d 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

1 5T ^ 4 io — 

Chap. Copyright No. 

Shelf.....L_B 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 




J. RiGGs Long 



The Glories of Heaven 

OR 

The Blessed Estate of the Redeemed 



IN TWO PARTS 

Ibcavcn Consf&ete& as a Xocal Ibabftation 



AND 



©eaven an Bialtet) /iDoral Con&ition 



TO WHICH IS APPENDED 
A CHOICE COLLECTION OF 



Crown Jewels, or Golden Gleanings of Religious 

Thought 



J. RIGGS LONG 

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER, RIO GRANDE, OHIO 

L 



Offfr© cf tHOi 
Register of CopyrlgJifai 






^7644 

Copyright i8p/, J. Riggs Long 




The Library 
OF Congress 



Sl£CJu J COPY, 






Uable of Contents 

PAOS 

Inscriptory Article 5 

Dedicatory Article . . . . . . 7 



PART I. 

I. General Remarks .... 

II. The Massive Jasper Walls (Safety) 

III. The Shining Pearly Gates (An Abun 

dant Entrance) .... 

IV. Mount Zion a City of Life 
V. The River of Life 

VI. The Robes the Ransomed Wear . 

VII. Palms of Victory, Crowns of Glory 

VIII. Reunion in Heaven 

IX. The Activities of Heaven 

X. Classes in Heaven 

XI. Plenty in Heaven 

XII. The Language of Heaven 

XIII. The Society of Heaven 

XIV. The Harmony of Heaven 
XV. Traveling in Heaven . 

XVI. The Permanency of Heaven 

XVII. Alleluia, or Worship in Heaven 

3 



19 
23 

27 
38 
43 
47 
54 
59 
66 
72 
83 
87 
91 
97 
101 
104 
110 



Uable of Contents 



PART II. 

I. General Remarks 121 

II. The Second Heaven, or Salvation by 

Free Grace 132 

III. The Riches of His Grace, or Bless- 

ings BY THE Way .... 141 

IV. Sanctification, or Holiness of Heart 154 
V. Emmanuel, or The Blessedness of the 

Divine Presence .... 169 

VI. The Higher Life Beyond . . . 183 
VII. Vital Godliness, — How obtained and 

Retained . ..... 188 

VIII. The Valedictory 192 



Obown Jewels 197^222 



a^ie. Eleanor m^ge long 

wife of Joseph Long, Daughter of the Rev. John Riggs, Senior, Sister of 

the Rev. John Riggs, Junior, late President of the Kentucky 

Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church. 



To the Memory of that Mother, who in 
childhood's unclouded morning, taught me 
with zealous care, both by example and by 
precept, in the things that pertain to the 
Kingdom of God, whose intercessions at the 
Throne of Grace, in my behalf, ceased not 
while she lived to ascend the Holy Hill of 
Zion, and whose prayers for her children are 
continually being offered up on a golden 
censer, a sweet savor unto the Lord, around 
whose dazzling Throne, in robes of spotless 
white, she now sings the song of Redeeming 
Love, and from thence watches for my com- 
ing, as erst she did, when I was away from 
my earthly home. 

To the Memory of that Mother, as a humble 
token of Filial Love, this little volume is 
affectionately inscribed by her only living son, 

The Author. 




H)eDtcatori5 

|0 forth, thou little volume, on 
thy mission of mercy and love. 
Go into the highways and by- 
ways of earth. And whither- 
soever thou goest, go in the 
power of the Holy Spirit, go in the name of 
the humble Nazarene. Be it thy mission to 
scatter Light Divine, to help in thy humble 
sphere to reproduce, reflect and diffuse that 
holy, healing, renovating, refining and ele- 
vating Light which emanated from the Sun 
of Righteousness, when He arose " with heal- 
ing in His wings"; which dawned over 
Judea's hills and Bethlehem's plain, when the 
angelic choir sang, ^' Peace on Earth, Good- 
will TOWARD Men"; that light which has 
raised our own beloved land to so eminent a 
rank among the powers of the earth, and 
redeemed the islands of the sea from the 
depths of degradation and cannibalism to be 



8 S)e&fcators 



flourishing, intelligent, Christian common- 
wealths. 

Be it thy mission to shine and shine ^' until 
sad hearts look upward," until weary, des- 
pondent ones take fresh courage, until the 
drooping spirit of the care-worn pilgrim 
revive, until the ''Key of Faith and Hope" 
shall unlock the door of '' Doubting Castle," 
and the liberated ones pass out from the dark 
domains of ''Giant Despair." 

Enter thou the home where affluence and 
plenty dwell, and point the anxious devotees 
of mammon to the riches that do not "make 
to themselves wings and fly away, as an 
eagle." Enter thou the lowly hovel, where 
penury and want abide, and point the way to 
pastures green, and fields elysian. 

To him who hath learned to know that 
" The tintings of hope on this storm-beaten 
earth melt like the snowflakes away," to him 
who hath grown weary of the emptiness of 
earthly schemes and expectations, and even 
of mercenary emoluments and honors, and 
who, with the " Preacher," is constrained to 



De&tcatots 



exclaim, ''AH is vanity and vexation of 
spirit," teach thou the simple lesson of faith 
and trust in God, whose promises are never 
at a discount, and whose reward is always 
with Him, "' to give to every man according 
as his work shall be," 

To the young man or woman, who is stand- 
ing doubtingly and thoughtfully upon the 
threshold of life's activities, gazing into the 
future with earnest solicitude, scanning the 
various paths that lead divergingly outward 
and onward across the broad field of human 
possibilities, and anxiously asking the ques- 
tion, ''Is life worth the living?" to such an 
one show thou the excellencies of that " strait 
and narrow way," that leads from the " City 
of Destruction," up to the " Celestial City "— 
that path which is "as the shining light that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day " 
— the path marked by the footprints of Jesus, 
and illumed by the Holy Spirit—the King's 
Highway of Holiness. 

To the aged and infirm traveler on life's 
rugged journey, "Whose latest sun is sinking 



10 H>e&icator^ 



fast, Whose race is nearly run, Whose 
hardest trials now are past. Whose triumph 
is begun," to whom earth's fairest prospects 
have lost their former interest; to such an 
one spread thou the feast of fond anticipa- 
tion, and bid him pluck the fragrant flowers, 
and partake of the luscious fruits that spring 
profusely on the verdant banks of the stream 
of Spiritual Meditation, and that grow luxu- 
riantly and spontaneously from the rich soil 
of the consciousness of a Well^Spent Life. 

And to him who is still traveling the down- 
ward road, away from light, and life, and 
liberty, toward outer darkness and utter 
destruction, who is bartering the momentous 
interests of the endless future, for the evanes- 
cent and unsatisfying pleasures of the pres- 
ent; to him, call thou ^'with no uncertain 
sound," and point to the three open Gates of 
Mercy on either side of the ^' Celestial City," 
which proclaim ^Hhrice welcome ^^ to every 
returning wanderer. 




©eneral Intro&uction 

ttbe fftca ot Ibeaven a 'dntversal flOea,— 
a matural -ffntuitton 

BELIEF in immortality,— in a 
state of existence beyond this 
^ brief and transitory life, a 
state in which the spirits of 
the departed shall in some 
sense find respite from the toils and cares in- 
cident to this life, reparation or restitution 
for the wrongs here endured, and recompense 
for every noble, generous, heroic, or self- 
sacrificing deed, — which so often, in this 
world, go unrequited, — is an innate and 
natural idea in the human mind, an intuition 
common to mankind at large; for we find that 
it exists, not only in civilized and enlightened 
lands where philosophy and reason flourish, 
and where the surer light of Divine Revela- 
tion shines, but also among the most un- 
tutored and benighted races of earth's ten- 

11 



12 ©eneral IFntrobuction 

antry. Nevertheless men's conceptions of the 
nature of that state, or place, of felicity being 
modified by various external circumstances, 
such as the current traditions and prevailing 
customs and ceremonies of the times and 
countries in which they live, as well as by 
the diversities of their own temperaments 
and emotional natures, are — as might natu- 
rally be expected — as diverse and varied as 
are their ideals of the conditions and circum- 
stances necessary to happiness in this present 
life. 

To the Red Man of the American forest the 
greatest source of happiness is the chase, or 
the social dance around the camp-fires of the 
clan, or tribe. And his conception of the 
future state is that there awaits him some- 
where — if he is noble^hearted, heroic, and 
brave — vast and rich Hunting Grounds where 
abundance of game is found, where perpetual 
summer abides, where perennial flowers 
bloom, where placid waters flow, or plunging 
cataracts foam, where, unmolested by the 
'^pale-faces," and undisturbed by kindred 



©eneral IFntro&uction 13 



foe, he may launch his birch-bark canoe, 
where he may feast to his heart's content on 
the luscious spontaneous fruits of the soil, 
where the camp-fire never goes out, and best 
of all — for he is no Atheist —where he may 
hold converse with the " Great Spirit." And 
in fond anticipation of this blessed estate 
when he departs this life he has his bow and 
arrows, and sometimes, too, his favorite dog 
buried with him; for, says he, "I shall need 
them in the great Hunting Grounds beyond." 
To that important and numerous class of 
individuals whose pathway lies in the Valley 
of Toil, over whose heads often sweep the 
rude tempests of Misfortune and Adversity, 
at whose sides, day by day, walk the phan- 
toms of Anxious Care, on whose labors the 
world is dependent for its daily bread and its 
necessary apparel, and on whose shoulders 
rests the burden of the most servile, onerous, 
and wearisome labors of life; to that class 
Rest has special charms, surcease of corrod- 
ing care is a boon greatly to be desired, and 
assurance of immunity from want, a most 



14 ©eneral UntroOuctlon 



important prerequisite to happiness. And so 
these weary and toil-worn ones look forward 
to the land of future blessedness as to a Sweet 
Haven of Rest, " a land flowing with milk 
and honey," a land where Sabbaths never 
end, and Toil never enters. 

And he whose soul, like that of righteous 
Lot, is "vexed continually" with the doings 
of the reckless and vicious, longs for the 
land, " Where the wicked cease from troub- 
ling, and the weary are at rest." 

To the Esquimau, or the Laplander shiver- 
ing with the intense cold, and dreading the 
long night of an Arctic winter the picture of 
the Land Elysian^ by Fancy painted bright, 
is all aglow with the rosy tints of an unclouded 
tropical summer morning, and presents to 
his enraptured gaze all the glories and 
luxuries of a genial clime, where light and 
warmth predominate, and where hunger and 
want shall be forever unknown. 

And for the swarthy sons of toil parched 
and tanned by the burning sun, the poisonous 
winds and the almost red-hot sands of the 



©enetal flnttobuction 15 

Torrid Zone the picture presents a fertile 
oasis, the foliage of whose palm=^trees never 
fades, whose living waters clear as crystal 
forever flow, whose balmy winds no obnoxious 
malaria bear, an oasis not circumscribed by a 
boundary of a few miles, but one whose area, 
and whose unwasting and unwaning fulness 
are coextensive with all the wants of all the 
sons and daughters of Adam's race. Every 
night he pitches his tent one day's journey 
nearer this beautiful land of plenty, which 
lies just beyond Jordan's placid, cooling 
waves, and by fond anticipation he sings, 

"We'll pass over the River, 
And rest under the shade of trees," 

And so it is with man in every condition of 
life. In whatsoever circumstances he may be 
placed, in whatsoever country or clime he 
may live, whatsoever environments may pre- 
determine his vocation, modify his ideals of 
happiness, or give color to the picture his 
fancy paints, or shape his creed, or belief, in 
regard to the Great Future, still we find 
unity in diversity, still we find in his picture 



16 (Benecal flntro&uctiott 

of Heaven one essential characteristic, one 
unmistakable mark of the Divine origin of the 
intuition; namely, that the felicity of that 
place of supreme happiness is not the result 
of mere chance, but is given by some Higher 
Power that presides over the destinies of men, 
as a reivard for virtue. 

Now since all men believe in the existence 
of a place or state of reward after this brief 
probationary life shall have come to a close, 
and that the life that shall dawn beyond the 
tomb, and beyond the confines of this sublunar 
sphere, beyond the realm of setting suns, and 
waning moons, and day's decline, shall be a 
life of unchanging and never ending happi- 
ness for the virtuous, no one can certainly 
afford to be indifferent or unconcerned in re- 
gard to anything that relates to that immortal 
state. As this, then, is a theme of absorbing 
interest, a theme in which you and I and all 
the world are personally concerned, let us, 
together, consider what light Divine Revela- 
tion sheds on the subject, to inspire us on our 
pilgrimage to the '^ Celestial City." 



Ube ©lories ot t)ea\?en 

OR 

ttbe 3SlCBBct> Estate ot tbe IReDeemeb 

PART I 



'*l ffo to prepare A PLACE for you, that where i 
there ye may be also.*' 



lo My Father's house are many mansiOBJ " 




mm Considered as a Cocal l^abitation 

CHAPTER I 
©enetal IRemarfts 

YE hath not seen, ear hath not 
heard," neither hath the mind 
of man conceived '' the things 
which God hath prepared for 
them that love Him," ''for the 
things of the spirit are spiritually discerned"; 
and the natural man in his present finite con- 
dition is not susceptible of comprehending in 
all their fulness the glories of a state that is 
spiritual, immortal, and infinite. Hence it 
was that Christ so often taught in parables 
and represented that which is spiritual and 
immaterial, by that which is natural and 
tangible, and explained the hidden mysteries 
of the Kingdom of Heaven by things familiar 
to His hearers. Hence it is that we find in 
the Bible, as in no other book, simplicity 
exalted to the plane of sublimity, and 

19 



20 TTbe Olortes of tycavcn 



sublimity displaying her most fascinating 
charms, her extreme loveliness, under the 
modest garb of simplicity. Hence it is, too, 
that we find Heaven, the home of sainted 
spirits, represented as a city that '' lieth four 
square," having '^a wall great and high," and 
^^foundations garnished with all manner of 
precious stones," and ^'streets of pure gold," 
and ^^ gates of pearl." The simple fact that 
God's Word represents the state of Future 
Blessedness under the similitude of a material 
city is, of itself, evidence sufiicient that it is 
well for us — sometimes at least — to think of 
Heaven as a local habitation, a place prepared 
for God's chosen and prepared people. This 
material representation of God's spiritual 
kingdom is, no doubt, given in His revealed 
Word for our edification, that we may form 
some faint conception of the grandeur and 
glory of that blessed estate, whose realities 
we can never, never know, or conceive in full, 
until, "This mortal shall have put on im- 
mortality, and this corruptible shall have put 
on incorruption." Man as a finite being, a 



General iRemarfts Zl 

creature of time and mortal sense, cannot 
comprehend the language o£ Heaven; but God 
deals with His children according to their 
capacity to comprehend, and their willingness 
to receive and obey His teachings. He says, 
^^ If I have told you earthly things and ye 
believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you 
heavenly things?" Man though a fallen be- 
ing, resting under a cloud of sin, with spirit- 
ual vision obstructed, with intellectual and 
spiritual susceptibilities and powers blunted, 
is nevertheless allied, in his nature, to the 
Divine, and may, by the assiduous cultiva- 
tion of the higher powers, the noble traits, 
the godlike attributes of his nature, attain 
to a degree of moral excellence of which he 
himself can at present form but the slightest, 
the most vague and imperfect conception, 
For, says the inspired apostle, '' Beloved, 
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 
yet appear what we shall be^ but we know 
that when He shall appear, we shall be like 
Him; for we shall see Him as He is." If we 
notice attentively the progressive nature of 



22 XCbe ©lories of 1beav>en 



Divine Revelation, the gradual development 
and unfolding of spiritual truth, in the ages 
that have preceded us, and how the faint 
glimmerings of the light of hope, that first 
dawned over the plains of the Euphrates in 
the vague promise to our forlorn and hope- 
less ancestors, that '' The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpent's head," was slowly, 
yet constantly, developing and brightening 
through symbol and sacrifice, law and proph- 
ecy, until, after the lapse of four thousand 
years, the light of a full and free salvation 
shone in splendor on honored Judea's hills, 
we may learn therefrom an important lesson; 
namely, that the spiritual heights accessible 
to man can only be ascended gradually. 
Then, since the brightest portrayals of the 
unspeakable glories of the home of sainted 
spirits are adapted by the Omniscient Creator 
to our present state of intelligence, let us 
now proceed to notice some of the lessons 
they are designed to teach. 



CHAPTER II 




XTbe /iDassfve Jasper Malls— Satets 

N the twenty-first chapter of 
that most wonderful Apoca- 
lypse, The Revelation of St. 
John, we read in regard to the 
Holy City, the New Jerusa- 
lem, that it hath ''a wall great and highJ^ 
Now what lesson is that designed to teach? 
What inferences may we reasonably draw 
therefrom? Its meaning is certainly very 
clear. For what purpose are walls built around 
cities? Are they not obviously for the safety 
of those who dwell within ? Have we not 
read how in ancient times, when war would 
arise, and fear would seize upon men's hearts, 
when danger was imminent and enemies 
gathered thick, how men would flee for life 
to the walled cities, and thus escape from the 
wrath of a foe whom they were not able to 
meet in open combat? And what a sense 

23 



2A XCbe Glories ot Ijeavcn 



of relief and safety did they feel when once 
inside of the walls, if only the walls were 
well-built and secure ! And have we not read, 
too, of the walled '^Cities of Refuge," built by 
the Israelites, to which the man-slayer might 
flee from the avenger=^of=blood and be safe, so 
long as he remained in the city, or until he 
could have his trial? Certainly a walled 
city is a fit emblem of refuge and safety. 
Yet walls by human hands constructed may 
be, and ofttimes are, by human hands de- 
molished. But how is it in regard to " The 
city that hath foundations, whose Builder and 
Maker is God"? What of the safety of 
Heaven? Hath not Christ, the King of 
Glory, '^led captivity captive"? Hath He 
not conquered Death, Hell, and the Grave, 
and arisen triumphant from the tomb, to reign 
forever and ever? And unto Him hath it not 
been said by the Eternal Father, '^Thy 
throne, God, is forever and ever: a sceptre 
of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy king- 
dom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and 
hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, 



Ube /Il>a56i\>e Jasper Malls— Safety 25 

hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness 
above Thy fellows, and Thou, Lord in the 
beginning hast laid the foundations of the 
earth; the heavens also are the works of 
Thine hands"? 

Then what a feeling of security, what a 
sense of safety from every ill, — a safety, a 
security, a serenity, deep, calm, profound — 
must take possession of the heart of every 
weary pilgrim, who hath fled from the ^' City 
of Destruction," when he passes safely 
through the pearly gates, into the Celestial 
City! And how much, how very much, 
there is, of comfort, of satisfaction, in that 
one little word safety! How largely our 
enjoyment depends upon a sense of security! 
And how perfect, how full, how complete 
is the security of Heaven! ^^ Where moth 
and rust doth not corrupt, and where thieves 
do not break through and steal!" ^' Where 
sickness and sorrow, pain and death are felt 
and feared no more! " Satan hath been ban- 
ished from that beautiful world of light, hurled 
headlong from the battlements of Heaven, 



26 Zbc ©lories of t)ea\>en 

and nothing unholy or impure can enter 
there; and so through all the endless cycles of 
eternity, the safety, the security, the serenity, 
the sanctity of Heaven will be unbroken and 
unalloyed. 




CHAPTER III 

Zbc SbiniuG pearlp Oatcs 

Bn BbunDant JEntrance 

"i?br so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the 
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,^^ 

HE Holy Jerusalem, the Saint's 
Inheritance, the City of the 
Great King, hath twelve shin- 
ing gates of pearl arranged as 
follows, viz: ''On the east 
three gates, on the north three gates, on the 
south three gates, and on the west three 
gates." '' And the gates of it shall not be 
shut at all by day," and the day never ends, 
for ''There shall be no night there." Now 
what is the import of all this? What signify 
the twelve gates continually standing — not, 
as we sometimes sing, " ajar," but — open 
wide? Beautiful emblem this, of the ease of 
ingress, of the accessibility of heaven, of the 

27 



28 Zbc ©lories of 1bea\>en 

abundance of entrance, for those who are 
worthy to enter there! On every side are 
three ways of entrance. Toward every land 
and nation, every race and condition of man- 
kind, stands an accessible front, with portals 
open wide. 

On the east and on the west, on the north 
and on the south — on every side of the Great 
City — one gate stands freely and invitingly 
open for the entrance of the '' Lambs of the 
Fold,'' the ^'Dear Little Ones" who, in 
infancy's cloudless morn, and childhood^s 
stainless purity, are gathered in tender care, 
by the Great Shepherd, from this bleak and 
barren, desolate land, this world by sin and 
sorrow cursed, gathered safely into the Ten- 
der Shepherd^s peaceful fold. hear the 
voice of the Savior tenderly calling, '^Suffer 
little children to come unto Me, and forbid 
them not; for of such is the Kingdom of 
Heaven/^ 

And what a great multitude of little 
Innocent Ones, from palatial mansions, from 



He Sbining pearly ©atea 20 

humble cottages, even from the rude tents of 
nomadic tribes, from every age and clime — 
'' from the four winds of the earth ^^ — have 
gone up to swell that mighty throng, and to 
join in the song of Redeeming Love! They 
have entered in through those pearly gates, 
and now are safe forevermore. On the wings 
of the morning their immaculate spirits have 
sped — escorted by an envoy of angels — to that 
City of Eternal Day, there to dwell forever 
with the Lord. 

And on every side of the Celestial City one 
gate stands open wide for the admission of 
those who through faith in Christ have ac- 
cepted salvation on the terms of the Gospel ; 
those who have been born again, as Christ 
taught Nicodemus, (born of water and of the 
spirit), and having been born again, ^^have 
fought a good fight,'' ^^have kept the faith," 
^^ have overcome the world.'' And here is the 
passport given by the King of Glory: ''To 
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me 
in My throne, even as I also overcame, and 



30 TTbe (Blottee oi fbeapen 

am set down with My Father in His throne." 
And here is one of the many invitations 
He hath given us: '' The Spirit and the bride 
say, 'Come'; and let him that heareth say, 
'Come'; and let him that is athirstcome; and 
whosoever will^ let him take the Water of 
Life freely." Whosoever will! how broad 
the invitation! None are excluded. An open 
gate on every side of that Golden City! A 
gate open for you and for me, and for all the 
teeming millions of earth. The glories of 
that Heavenly Home invite us. God's Word 
invites us. The Holy Spirit invites us. The 
Church Militant invites us. And the Church 
Triumphant is waiting to welcome us- 

And when we have passed the Jordan, and 
are come at last to the City of the Great 
King, as we look in admiration and wonder 
inexpressible upon the towering wall of jas- 
per, and hesitating and abashed draw nigh 
to one of those gates of purest pearl, just over 
that shining portal we may read, — I fancy, — 
inscribed in letters of living light, an invita- 
tion like this: 



Ube Sbinina peatlp ©ates 31 

Come in ^e blesseb of /IDp jFatber, inbetit 

tbe Ikina&om prepared for ^ou from tbe foun*^ 

Dation ot tbe wotI&* XKIlell &one tbou ooo5 ant) 

fattbtul servant, tbou bast been faltbful over a 

few tbinaSt IF will mafee tbee ruler over man^* 

Enter tbou into tbe jops of tbp Xor5^ 

Then, what joy, what ecstasy, what rap- 
tures unspeakable will take possession of the 
soul! I imagine, as I stand there and gaze 
upon the dazzling brightness of the city, and 
read those words of welcome from my Savior, 
that I shall be so overpowered with the 
grandeur and glory of the scene that I shall 
scarcely know whether to enter or not. I 
imagine it will be difficult for me to realize 
that natural life, with all its trials and ad- 
versities, is so soon and forever passed, and 
that the resplendent city, before whose gates 
I stand, is to be forever my happy home. 
What a profound sense of gratitude will fill 



32 Zbe (diodes of 1beax>en 



our souls as we stand there and think of all 
that Christ has done for us, that we might 
inherit eternal life, and of how trivial, how 
insignificant after all, have been our trials, 
our afflictions, our burdens and our crosses 
compared to that ''exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory " now to be revealed unto us. 
The veil of forgetfulness being drawn aside 
by the Angel of the Resurrection, and the 
limitations of our spiritual vision removed by 
that mysterious transformation from mortality 
to immortality, we shall comprehend as never 
before the magnitude of God's redeeming 
love; and we can but sing, 

"'Tis Grace! 'tis Grace! 'tis wonderful Grace! 
This Great Salvation brings!" 

Likewise on every side of that City of 
Light one pearly gate stands continually 
open for the admission of those who have 
grown up in the darkness of heathen lands 
to the years of accountability, have acted their 
part and filled their places in the great drama 
of life, and stepped off of the stage of earth's 
activities, ignorant of the Revealed Law of 



Zbc Sbining pearly Gates 2f3 

God, and of the grand scheme of human re- 
demption provided through the atonement of 
Christ, who, never having heard of Him, could 
not be saved through faith in His name; and 
v^ho have, notw^ithstanding all these unpro- 
pitious surroundings, lived noble, virtuous, 
heroic, generous and even magnanimous lives, 
measured by the light and knowledge ac- 
cessible to them. "For," says the apostle 
Paul, who was ' a chosen vessel ^ ' ordained of 
God' to minister unto these benighted ones, 
'^when the Gentiles, which have not the law, 
do by nature the things contained in the law, 
these, having not the law, are a law unto 
themselves: which show the work of the law 
written in their hearts, their conscience also 
bearing witness." Hence we conclude that 
of the countless millions of Adam's race who, 
since time began, have thus lived and died 
without the light of Divine Revelation, a great 
multitude have doubtless passed in through 
these gates of the third class, and are now 
safely housed in that eternal City of Refuge; 
but as to their citizenship in heaven, or the 



34 XTbe Olorlee of t)eav>en 

fulness of their inheritance, more, anon, when 
we come to speak of ^' Classes in Heaven/' 

"On the east three gates," — one for the 
infant, one for the believer, and one for the 
virtuous heathen — and likewise, "on the 
north three gates," "on the south three 
gates," "and on the west three gates." 
how complete the accessibility of Heaven to 
those who are worthy! How generous, how 
gracious the overtures of Divine Mercy! 
How importunate the pleadings and en- 
treaties of a loving heavenly Father, urging 
His wandering children to return and 
" choose life that they may live." Heaven 
will be more glorious from the fact that no 
one who is worthy will be denied an admit- 
tance there. And yet many will fail to enter. 
How strange, after all that has been done to 
make Heaven and happiness attainable to 
mankind, that any should choose sin and its 
wages, rather than virtue and eternal life! 
How passing strange indeed that any should 
deliberately turn their backs on those shining 
pearly portals, to wander forlorn in the bar- 



XCbe SbiniuG pearlg Gates 35 

ren wilderness of sin! How unaccountable 
the delusion that must have taken possession 
of that soul which refuses ^' to have the man 
Christ Jesus reign over him," and yet sub- 
mits himself a willing servant to a master 
who will place on him the fetters of sin, hind 
him with the chains of evil habit, and lead 
him away captive to the dungeon of everlast- 
ing despair! How wonderfully subtile that 
infatuation by which an innocent babe, a child 
of God, an heir of the kingdom of glory, as 
he advances in age, is often led, step by step, 
to depart from the Shining Way of Holiness, 
that leads onward and upward to the Portals 
of Eternal Peace, to lose all interest in 
Heaven, his rightful inheritance, and to be- 
come, at length, so estranged from his Father's 
love, and so averse to all that is pure and good, 
that, in the end, instead of entering, with joy 
and gladness, the Gates of Glory, he will 
turn away, and in the bitterness of his spirit, 
and from the depth of a self-imposed degrada- 
tion, will '' call for the rocks and the hills to 
fall upon him, and to hide him from the face 



36 Ube ©lories of Deaven 

of Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and 
from the Lamb, forever and ever.' 

Clad in garments of shame, covered with 
the defilements of sin, hamited with the 
memory of evil deeds, and burdened with 
the overwhelming weight of a guilty con- 
science the wicked will have no desire to 
enter, through the gates of Eternal Day, into 
the searching light of Heaven; but having so 
long '^ loved darkness rather than light, 
because their deeds were evil," they will 
realize the fitness, as well as the justness 
of that awful denunciation : '^ Depart from Me 
ye workers of iniquity J ^ 

But how brightly will dawn on the 
enraptured vision of the Kedeemed the 
glories of that bright Celestial Morning. 
And as Christ, the King of Glory, with His 
children, the blood^bought and redeemed 
hosts of every age and clime, a mighty army 
of conquerors clad in robes of spotless white, 
approaches the Shining City how the Celestial 
Conclave will echo to the sweet strains of 
music and the glad shouts of triumph! Shall 



tCbe Sbtnina pearls ©ates 37 

you and I be in that Shining Retinue, that 
melodious immortal choir? Will it be our 
happy lot, as we draw nigh to the Pearly 
Portals of the Peaceful Paradise of God, to 
join in the sweet song: 

1. High raise your heads, ye lofty gates, 
For see, the King of Glory waits; 

Ye everlasting doors, arise, 
And make a passage as He flies. 

2. But hark! the heavenly hosts inquire, 
Who is this mighty conquering King? 
In cheerful strains the answering choir 
Lift high their voice and sweetly sing: 

8. He is the Lord of boundless might, 
High raise your heads, ye gates of light; 
He conquered Death, and Hell, and Sin; 
Fly wide, ye doors, He shall come in. 

4. But hark! again the angels say. 
Who is this mighty conquering King 
Who rises to the realms of day; 

Whose praise with such applause ye sing? 

5. The Lord of boundless power possessed; 
God over all, forever blessed: 

The Lord of Hosts, the Most Renowned; 
The King of endless glory crowned. 




CHAPTER IV 
flDount Zion, H Citi? ot Xigbt 

" ^nd the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in 
it: for THE GLOEY OF GoD did lighten it, and the Lamb is the 
light f/iereo/." — Rev. xxi, 23. ^^ And the nations of them which 
are saved shall walk in the light of it'*'' — Rev. xxi, 24. 

|NLY partially and imperfectly 
do we realize the importance 
of the light of the sun, the 
centre of the solar system, to 
our comfort and well-being in 
this present life. The intimate connection 
that exists between physical light and animal 
life, and the absolute dependence of the latter 
upon the influence of the former, are facts 
but vaguely comprehended by the masses of 
mankind. Not only are we dependent on 
light for the gorgeous colors that adorn the 
rainbow, that beautiful symbol of God's 
mercy and love, or the radiant hues and mel- 
low tints that leap forth in splendor sublime 
from the veil of an autumnal sunset sky, or 

88 



/IDount Zion, H Citp of Xigbt 39 

the more modest and no less graceful dyes 
that deck the lovely flowers and verdant 
foliage of glade and glen, of field and forest, 
and lend their mystic charm to every part 
of earth's variegated landscape. But we are 
also dependent upon the agency of light for the 
more commonplace and ordinary necessities 
of life. The bread that we eat, the clothes 
that we wear, and the fuel that we burn are 
but products, direct or remote, of the sun's 
rays, modified and adapted by Divine skill 
to man's multiform necessities. Yea, and 
the very life force that ebbs in our veins, the 
vitality and physical energies of our being, 
— that life-principle which we possess in com- 
mon with all animate creation; — all these are 
God's gifts through the agency of light. But 
if such is the potency, and such the benign 
influence, of that light which is wholly phys- 
ical, which comes to us, not direct from God, 
but through the medium of a material lumi- 
nary — the sun — and is received and appro- 
priated, utilized and appreciated by us 
through manifold earthly imperfections, what 



40 Ube ©lories of 1bea\>en 



must be the power and glory of that heavenly 
light which emanates direct from the throne 
of God, shines with unabated brilliancy over 
the elysian fields of glory, and is received and 
enjoyed by the unencumbered spirits of 
glorified immortals? Through the agency of 
light we receive our noblest impressions, our 
grandest and most sublime conceptions, both 
of the magnitude, and the matchless loveli- 
ness of the material universe. We look upon 
the modest violet beneath our feet, and learn 
the lesson of God's greatness from the con- 
sideration of His infinite condescension. Or 
we look out with enraptured gaze over the 
illimitable fields of trackless space, and read, 
in the light that comes down to us from 
myriads of shining orbs, the wonderful story 
of His ubiquity and omnipotence. So anxious 
are we to look into the hidden mysteries that 
lie around, beneath, and above us, that we 
call to the aid of our limited vision the latest 
devices of inventive genius, and by means of 
the microscope, the telescope and other more 
modern inventions we gaze with delight upon 



/IDount Zton, H Citp of Xigbt 41 

many lovely scenes that were aforetime con- 
cealed from our view. If so much may be 
learned and so much enjoyed in this life, 
through the mission of light, what shall we 
say of the fulness of knowledge and of the 
heights of ecstasy that will be ushered in upon 
us when, by our Father's hand, the veil of 
mortal limitation is removed from our sin= 
beclouded vision, and instead of this earthly 
light, now so highly prized, shall dawn upon 
us the perfect light of Mount Zion? 

For how vastly superior, how transcend- 
ently glorious must be that light which 
emanates from the Sun of Righteousness, the 
King of Glory, and proceeds from the throne 
of God and the Lamb undimmed by cloud or 
mist and unsullied by aught that is imperfect 
or impure. That light is the light of holiness 
immaculate, of purity untarnished. How 
far exceeding in loveliness and grandeur the 
scope of human comprehension, or even the 
loftiest flights of human fancy, must be the 
glory of the Celestial City, thus illumined by 
direct effulgence from the throne of the Eter- 



42 XTbe ©lories ot Ibcavcn 

nal, thus lighted by the approving smile of a 
loving Father! Even the inhabitants them- 
selves shall be clad in a vesture of light: for 
^'They that be v^ise shall shine as the 
brightness of the firmament; and they that 
turn many to righteousness, as the stars for- 
ever and ever." How ineffable, then, must be 
the glories of the City of our God! 

Land of perfect beauty, 

World so bright and fair, 
When will angels call me? 

O when shall I be there? 




CHAPTER V 
Zbc IRivcv Of Xifc 

And he shewed me a pure river of Wateb of Life clear as crystal, 
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.^^ — 
Rev. xxii, 1. 

HAT signifies this crystal flood, 
this flowing fountain, this 
Water of Life? Its import 
we cannot now fully under- 
stand, but it is certainly sym- 
bolical of the abundance of that life which 
was purchased for man by the blood of the 
atoning Lamb. When Christ was crucified 
and was hanging upon the cross, one of the 
Roman soldiers pierced His side with a spear 
and there issued therefrom both blood and 
water. When Jesus conversed with the 
woman of Samaria, at Jacob's well, He said 
unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, 
and who it is that saith unto thee. Give me 
to drink: thou wouldst have asked of Him, 

48 



44 TLbc ©lories ot Ibeaven 

and He would have given thee Living Water." 
''Whosoever drinketh of the water that I 
shall give him shall never thirst; but the 
water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into Everlasting 
Life." From these and other passages of 
like import, found in the teachings of Christ 
Himself, it appears that those who have, ^^ by 
adoption and free grace," become heirs of the 
Spiritual Kingdom are, even in the present 
life, made partakers of that Living Water. 
But while these Living Waters are, in the 
Kingdom of Grace, fitly represented by a 
gushing fountain, '' a well springing up," they 
are, in the Kingdom of Glory, in their abun- 
dance, like unto a majestic river, a grand, an 
inexhaustible, a never failing stream, flowing 
quiet, constant, placid, pure to the remotest 
bounds of the heavenly Canaan. 

Spring up, spring up continually in our 
hearts, thou blessed well of Living Waters! 
Flow on, flow on, forever flow, thou majestic 
River of Water of Life, thou blessed stream 
of immortality! While in this wilderness we 



Zbc IRiver of Xife 45 

are camping, '' Blessed are they that hunger 
and thirst after righteousness "; but when we 
shall have gone over to possess '^ that goodly- 
land," and have taken up our abode in that 
City of God, where flows the great River of 
Life, no thirsty soul will then be found. 
how abundant the provision God hath made 
for the happiness of His children in that 
blessed Land Beyond! There from Life's 
Crystal River we may drink and be forever 
Satisfied. There from Life's Fair Tree we 
may pluck fruit ambrosial, and never know 
aught of hunger or want. There may our 
care-worn and world-weary spirits find sweet 
rest and recreation, and enjoy, under the 
shadow of those ^'healing" leaves, perfect 
immunity from all the ills of earthly life. 

How highly we prize this mortal life, and 
how reluctant we are to lay it down, notwith- 
standing its reverses and trials, its sorrows 
and sad bereavements! But, if this present 
brief life is so desirable, what estimate shall 
we make of the value of that Eternal Life, 
which is the gift of God, and which was 



40 XCbe Glories of Deaven 

purchased for us at such wondrous cost! 
Life, Life, Everlasting Life! Who can 
compute its worth, or measure its sublime 
possibilities ? Or who can conceive the rich- 
ness, the fulness, the completeness of the 
glories sempiternal, of the joys elysian, that 
await God's elect children when they shall 
have assembled on the peaceful banks of 
that beatiful river? 

'*When we've been there ten thousand years. 
Bright shining as the sun, 
We've no less days to sing God's praise 
Than when we first begun." 




CHAPTER VI 

Ube IRobes tbe IRansomet) Meat 

WILL greatly rejoice in the 
Lord, my soul shall be joyful 
in my God; for He hath 
clothed me with the garments 
of salvation, He hath covered 
me with the robe of righteousness, as a bride- 
groom decketh himself with ornaments, and 
as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." 
Thus sang the prophet Isaiah about seven 
hundred years before the advent of Christ. 
'^ These things saith the Amen, the faithful 
and true Witness, I counsel thee to buy of 
Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest 
be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest 
be clothed." Such was the admonition to the 
church of the Laodiceans. 

The Christian religion is not designed to 
rob life of its charms, or to detract aught from 
its legitimate pleasures, or true nobility; it is 

47 



48 Ube ©lories of Ibcavcn 



not its purpose to make young people prema- 
turely old, or to render old people '^long== 
faced," melancholy, austere and unlovable; 
but on the contrary, its mission is to add to 
the natural graces of life that higher charm, 
that more exquisite loveliness which springs 
from conscious integrity and is sustained by 
living in harmony with the higher laws of 
one's being, and by cultivating a trustful, 
childlike confidence in the guidance and pro- 
tection of Divine Providence. For, 

** The faithful child, whose earnest eye 
Strives after all things pure and high, 
Shall take their image, by and by." 

Hence it is that he who embraces and 
assimilates Christianity in its purity and its 
fulness, who is guided by the principles, and 
actuated by the Spirit of its Great Founder 
becomes, in deed and in truth, '' the light of the 
world," and '' the salt of the earth," What 
perennial sources of spiritual beauty, what 
profound depths of moral grandeur spring 
to light in the life, glow in the genial smile, 
and shine in the sparkling eye of that child 



Ubc IRobes tbe 1Ransome& Meat 49 

of God, who is indeed clothed with the gar- 
ments of salvation, and covered with the robe 
of righteousness, whose self=will is sub- 
merged in the will of an all^wise Heavenly- 
Father, whose ''life is hid with Christ in 
God," and whose highest aspirations are to 
glorify His name, and to grow into His 
image! 

But this present life is only the formative 
period of our inchoate spiritual existence. 
All that we see — all that we may attain — of 
moral beauty, of spiritual excellence in this 
world is only life in its incipiency, the faint 
tintings of the rising dawn of a more excel- 
lent life beyond. Then since Christian char- 
acter may attain to heights so enviable, and 
Christian manhood and womanhood acquire, 
even here, so much loveliness and true mag- 
nanimity, what shall we say of the robes of 
righteousness the ransomed shall wear around 
our Father's throne? Let us hear what the 
Revelator says, ''And unto her" — to the 
Bride, the Lamb's wife — " was granted that 
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 



50 Ube (Blories of Ibeaven 

white: for the fine linen is the righteousness 
OF SAINTS." '' And one of the elders answered, 
saying unto me, Who are these which are 
ARRAYED IN WHITE ROBES? and whence came 
they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou know- 
est. And he said unto me. These are they 
which came out of great tribulation, and have 
washed their robes, and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb." '^He that over- 
COMETH, the same shall be clothed in white 
raiment; and I will not blot out his name 
out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his 
name before My Father, and before His 
angels." ^' Thou hast a few names even in 
Sardis, which have not defiled their gar- 
ments; and they shall walk with Me in 
white: for they are worthy." Beautiful in- 
deed to look upon is a robe of spotless white! 
In all the realm of nature no more appropri- 
ate emblem of purity can be found; and noth- 
ing meets more fully our conception of har- 
mony, and the law of fitness, than to behold 
an innocent babe arrayed in spotless robes of 
purest white. But in this our earthly habi- 



Ube IRobes tbe 1Ransome& Meat 51 

tation how difficult, alas, the task, how nearly 
hopeless the attempt to keep our garments 
white ! How unceasing the warfare that must 
be waged against dust and dirt, and how as- 
siduous the labor and care necessary to keep 
ourselves even partially exempt from their 
encroachments. But when we enter through 
the pearly gates of the Celestal City, and 
are clad in Heaven's radiant habilaments, 
how different, how very different, our condi- 
tion and our experience will be! Our robes 
will then never become soiled, and never grow 
old, will never lose their snowy whiteness, or 
their perfect purity, and protection of them 
will never more be to us a source of anxious 
care. 

Spiritually considered the same holds true. 
How hard indeed it is for us, in this life, to 
keep ourselves unstained from sin. How 
vigilant, how prayerful, how zealous, how 
untiring we need to be that, '^that wicked 
one" touch us not! That some unholy dis- 
position, some unruly temper, some un- 
hallowed desire, some malevolent propen- 



52 Zhc Glories oi Ibeaven 

sity, either inherited or acquired, lay not its 
foul hand upon us, to tarnish and defile us, 
we need to constantly watch and pray. We 
need continually to fly to that ^^ Fountain 
which was opened in the house of David, for 
sin and for uncleanness." And with the 
inspired Wesley, we sing, ^^ Every day, every 
hour, Let me feel Thy cleansing power." 
Not so in Heaven! When we have passed 
the Shining Portals of the Glory Land, and 
been clothed in white, when we have reached 
Our Father's House on high, and by Him 
been welcomed to our Eternal Home, all 
glory to God, Our Great Redeemer, we will 
then be beyond the reach of the enemy of our 
souls, beyond the confines of sin and sorrow, 
beyond the domain of dust and decay, be- 
yond the conflict, the toil and care of earthly 
life, beyond doubt and fear and grief, and 
even beyond death, the last earthly foe. 

JSei^onD ft ail 

1. "Beyond this land of parting, losing and leaving, 
Far beyond the losses darkening this, 



TLbc IRobea tbe 1Ransome& IKIlear 53 



And far beyond the taking and the bereaving, 
Lies the 'Summer Land of Bliss,' 

Refrain. 

" Land beyond so fair and bright! 
Land beyond, where is no night I 
^ Summer Land,' God is its Light. 
O, happy * Summer Land of Bliss! ' 

2. " Beyond this land of toiling, sowing and reaping, 
Far beyond the shadows darkening this. 

And far beyond the sighing, mourning and weeping, 
Lies the ^Summer Land of Bliss.' 

3. ** Beyond this land of sinning, fainting and falling, 
Far beyond the doubtings darkening this, 

And far beyond the griefs and dangers befalling. 
Lies the * Summer Land of Bliss.' 

4. " Beyond this land of waiting, seeking and sighing, 
Far beyond the sorrows darkening this, 

And far beyond the pain and sickness and dying. 
Lies the ' Summer Land of Bliss." 




CHAPTER VII 

IPalms ot Dictori?, Crowns of ©lorp 

OT only shall the Ransomed 
Hosts of Heaven, the Re- 
deemed of the Lord, wear 
robes of spotless wmxE, em- 
blematic of pmity of life, and 
holiness of heart; but in their hands they shall 
bear Palms of Victory, tokens of battles 
bravely fought and won, on the battle-fields 
of earth, over the allied armies of Sin and 
Darkness, the powers of Evil within and 
without. '^ And lo, a great multitude, which 
no man could number, of all nations, and 
kindreds, and people, and tongues stood 
before the Throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying. 
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the 
Throne, and unto the Lamb." And further- 
more on each saintly brow shall rest a crown 

54 



palms ot IDfctori?, Crowns of (Blot^ 33 

of never fading glory. They who in this 
life have been reviled and lightly esteemed, 
and have endured many privations and per- 
secutions for Christ's sake, shall, in the life 
to come, be ^^ heirs of God and ]oint==heirs 
with His Son," Jesus Christ, and with Him 
reign in Glory forever and ever. To him 
who hath believed on His name and enlisted 
in His service. He says, '^Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
LIFE." And again He says, ^' Behold I come 
quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that 
no man take thy crown." How precious the 
promise! a crown of life! Who can fathom 
the depth of meaning these words are de- 
signed to convey? Who can comprehend their 
sublimity? How inadequate the capacity of 
mortal man to estimate the value of such a 
crown ! What is it that earthly potentates have 
not done for the sake of a crown? And yet 
what a bauble, what a mere nothing, what 
a mockery, what a delusion is such a crown, 
compared to that which Christ the King of 
Glory has in reserve for you, and for me, and 



56 Ube ©lories of Ibeaven 

for every one of His followers who '' over- 
cometh '' the world! Ours will be a Crown 
of Life Everlasting, of Glory Unceasing, of 
Rejoicing and Gladness Unalloyed, of Holi- 
ness Immaculate, of Triumph and Victory 
Complete; yes Complete through ''Him who 
hath loved us, and hath washed us from our 
sins in His Own precious blood! '' A Crown 
that will never grow heavy, or be a source of 
weariness to the brow that wears it. A 
Crown whose jewels never tarnish, and whose 
lustre never grows dim. A Crown not sullied 
by use, but which grows brighter by being 
often cast in grateful homage at the feet of 
Him that sitteth upon the Throne. A Crown 
achieved not at the cost of war and carnage, 
of devastation and ruin wrought among our 
fellow men, but one whose brightest diadems 
are the living crystalizations of deeds of kind- 
ness, of sympathy, of brotherly love, of for- 
bearance, of self-sacrifice '' In His Name." 
A Crown not placed on the victor's head by 
the hand of a fickle populace, who to-day are 
ready to confer on the hero the highest 



palma of Dictor^, Crowns ot Glory 57 

possible emoluments, and to-morrow are 
equally ready to trample his honor in the 
dust; but a Crown in perpetuity placed on 
the brow of spotless innocence by that Hand 
^'with whom is neither variableness nor 
shadow of turning." A Crown that will not 
make the wearer conceited or arrogant, that 
will not place a barrier between its possessor 
and the lowliest of God's creatures. The 
Crown of a perfect character, of a life rounded, 
developed, symmetrical, tried and refined by 
the fires of adversity, and ornate with the 
excellencies of all the Christian Graces. 




CHAPTER VIII 
l^eunion in Heaven 

I think I should mourn o'er my sorrowful fate, 

If sorrow in Heaven can be, 
If no one should be at the beautiful gate, 

There watching and waiting for me. 

ONG ago hath it been said, 
^^ Earth hath no sorrow 
Heaven cannot heal;" and 
of all the sorrows known 
to mortal man, there is none 
so bitter, so overwhelming, so heart-rend- 
ing, as would be the sorrow of bereave- 
ment, of separation from our loved ones, did 
we but believe that such separation would be 
final, that when we close the eyes of our 
kindred in death, they never more should 
look in love upon us, and when their tongues 
are cold and silent, that we should hear their 
gentle accents, their loving words, their kindly 
greetings no more. As we consign to their 
last earthly resting place the mortal remains 

58 



weunton tn Dea\>en 59 



of our friends, and listen to the solemn dirge, 
''Earth to earth, and dust to dust," how 
forcibly does Job's earnest inquiry press 
-itself upon us; ''If a man die, shall he live 
again?" And even v^hen with unwavering 
faith, and positive assurance, we can answer 
that important question in the affirmative, 
to be thus separated, for a time, from those 
whom our hearts hold dearest, is still a sore 
trial, a sad bereavement. But as we advance 
in years, and our friends, one by one, bid us 
adieu and pass on to the Celestial City we 
begin, by and by, to realize that our friends 
" over there ^^ are more numerous than those 
that remain with us; and so the dark shadow 
of our earthly loss becomes gradually trans- 
formed into the light of joyous anticipation, 
and we close our eyes upon these scenes of 
parting, that we may, by faith, gaze upon the 
brighter scene of a glorious reunion, a reunion 
which lies before us at no great distance,— 
only the journey of a few fleeting days at 
most. But what will that reunion be like? 
When we have been separated from our 



00 Z\)c ©lories of Ibeaven 

friends here for only a few weeks or months, 
with what pleasure do we greet them again! 
What gladness fills our hearts as their words 
of welcome sound in our ears, as we look into 
their eyes sparkling with love, and read in 
their sunny smiles expressions of affection too 
potent and sincere to be translated into 
words. 

Among all the sources of happiness per- 
taining to this mortal life there is none that 
yields more real enjoyment than does the as- 
sociation of those whose hearts are bound by 
the holy ties of sincere affection. And it mat- 
ters not whether that affection be the out- 
growth of affinity, or consanguinity, or has 
sprung from a mutual interchange of deeds 
of civility and kindness, or from a similarity 
of tastes and habits. Such a bond of vmion, 
whatever may be its origin, is often stronger 
than the love of life, and in the production of 
happiness few more potent factors exist. 
And if such is the ardor and power of our 
affections here, and such the intensity of the 
happiness that springs from congenial associa- 



IReunion In 1bea\?en 61 

tions, what shall we say of the joys that shall 
thrill our yearning hearts, in that bright world 
beyond the tomb, when after long years of 
separation, we shall once more meet those 
whom om^ hearts hold dearest, shall meet 
them not to part again but to dwell with 
them forever? 

How sweet it will be in that beautiful land, 

So free from all sorrow and pain, 
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands 

To meet one another again! 

But, ^^ Shall we know eacn other there? ^' 
Shall we recognize in their glorified and im- 
mortal state those with whom we have been 
associated in this earthly state? There is 
certainly no reasonable ground to doubt such 
recognition. Did not Peter, James and John 
recognize, on the Mt. of Transfiguration, the 
glorified spirits of Moses and Elijah, whom 
they had never seen in the flesh? And will 
they not recognize them again, when they 
meet around the Great White Throne ? Much 
more certainly, then, shall we recognize those 
with whom we have been so intimate here. 



02 XTbe ©lories of Ibcavcn 

To remember this earthly state implies a re- 
membrance of the persons with whom we 
had to do, and by whom we were influenced 
in this life. To fail to remember the trans- 
actions of this life would be to cease to be 
worthy objects of reward or retribution. To 
assume that we shall not remember what has 
transpired here is virtually to claim that all 
our attainments here shall pass for naught, 
and that, when we enter upon that immortal 
state, we shall begin life de novo. But we 
shall not forget. Many facts in memory's 
casket may be covered up and lie dormant 
and concealed for a great while, we being en- 
tirely unconscious that we possess them, and 
suddenly, upon the occurrence of some extra- 
ordinary event, or the return of some link 
in the chain of association, they may lume 
up before us as vividly and distinctly as the 
events of the passing hour. Hence we may 
reasonably infer that, when mortal limita- 
tions and imperfections are superseded by a 
glorious immortality, the change in our knowl- 
edge will be that, whereas, ^^ Now we know 



IReunion in Tbcavcn 63 

in part, then we shall know even as we are 
knownJ^ 

But granted that we shall recognize our 
fathers and our mothers, our brothers and 
our sisters, our children and our friends, as 
such, ''over there," the question then arises. 
Shall we retain for them the same ardent af- 
fection, the same peculiar love that character- 
ized our relationship here? And in the light 
of reason we answer, ''When this corrupt- 
ible shall have put on incorruption, and this 
mortal shall have put on immortality," then 
this peculiar love, which pertains to mortal 
life, shall in like manner be transformed and 
intensified into a more glorious, a more ex- 
alted, an immortal love, a love approximating 
more and more to that of the Divine Author. 

But do the Glorified Immortals take cog- 
nizance of, and feel an interest in the affairs 
of their kindred on this side of the Jordan? 
Let Divine Inspiration answer. " And when 
he Cometh home he calleth together his friends 
and neighbors, saying unto them. Rejoice 
with me; for I have found my sheep which 



64 Ube ©lories of ticavcn 

was lost. I say unto you that likewise joy 
shall be in Heaven over one sinner that re- 
penteth, more than over ninety and nine just 
persons which need no repentance." And 
again we are taught in the parable of ' the 
rich man ' and Lazarus, his beggar brother, 
that the spirits of the lost departed ones 
remember their kindred in this world, and 
are anxious for their deliverance. And shall 
we believe that our friends in Heaven take 
less interest in us, or know less of our con- 
dition than did this lost wretch, who cared 
only for himself while in this world ? From 
the foregoing considerations we may certainly 
conclude, with positive assurance, that our 
loved ones who have preceded us to the Glory 
Land are anxiously waiting and watching 
for our arrival. With what joy and gladness 
then shall we meet them and greet them on 
the plains of Light, and Life, and Love! 

How fondly then should we cherish the 
remembrance of our departed sainted friends, 
not repining or murmuring at our loss, but 
rather rejoicing at their deliverance from the 



IReunion in t)ea\?en 05 

sorrows of earth, and their admittance into 
the richness and fulness of the heavenly 
inheritance. And since we are, even now, by 
the abounding grace, and the exceeding rich 
promises of God, members of the same Spir- 
itual Kingdom, with what thrilling ecstasies, 
with what inspiring anticipations should we 
look forward to the time when we shall be 
reunited to those whom we have not ceased 
to love. And having so full an assurance of 
the glories of that blessed state of reunion 
and heavenly communion, may we not, should 
we not, will we not, henceforth banish all sad- 
ness and gloom from our hearts, live in the 
light of God's love, rejoice evermore, and 
reflect in our lives the light which has shined 
so graciously upon us ? '^ For the just shall live 
by faith," and ''Faith is the substance of 
things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
seen." 




CHAPTER IX 

^be Hctix>mes of Ibeaven 

HERE remaineth therefore a 
rest to the people of God/' 
says the great apostle of the 
Gentiles; and rest will, no 
doubt, be one of the chief at- 
tractions of that heavenly home. Heaven 
will be a place of rest from all fatigue, from 
all wearisome toil, from all anxious care and 
from all the vexations, perplexities and ills 
of this mortal life. And yet that rest, while 
it will meet all the wants of the care-worn 
and way^faring pilgrim, will not be the rest 
of indolence and inactivity. Indeed the 
idea of a lazy man^s Heaven — with nothing 
to do, nothing to desire, nothing to learn, 
nothing to anticipate, no hopes, no aspira- 
tions — would certainly be, not only undesir- 
able, but actually repugnant, to the indus- 
trious and faithful toiler in the Master's vine- 

66 



xrbe Hctlplties of 1beat>en 67 

yard, who has found his highest pleasure 
in this life in the active and faithful per- 
formance of service, and in aspirations for, 
and anticipation of a higher phase of being, 
a more exalted plane of existence in which he 
might more fully and effectively exercise 
his varied powers for the honor and glory of 
God. The person who expects to find noth- 
ing to do in Heaven but simply to rest, rest, 
REST, does not deserve any Heaven, and would 
not be capable of enjoying very much, even if 
his uttermost desires were gratified. His cup 
is a very small one, even though it should run 
over: for he has buried his talent in the earth, 
and has not developed in his own soul the 
susceptibility of enjoyment. But I praise 
God that such is not the Heaven that Christ, 
the Captain of our Salvation, hath gone to 
prepare for us. Heaven will be a state of 
ceaseless, though untiring activity, of aspira- 
tion and achievement, of desire and fruition, 
of progress unimpeded and development un- 
limited — a rest of activity and inspiration, 
not of lethargy and indolence. In the Ian- 



08 XEbe ©lories of IHeaven 

guage of the illustrious Stephen Olin — ad- 
dressed to a graduating class, at Delaware, 
0. — '' Nothing in reason, philosophy or reve- 
lation will justify the fear that the high intel- 
lectual attributes, with which the redeemed 
soul enters Heaven, may not find worthy and 
significant employment there." 

The desire for wisdom, the ardent yearn- 
ing for high attainments, both intellectual 
and spiritual, are impulses in the human 
mind which bear the seal of Divine ap- 
proval. Solomon chose wisdom, and asked 
for it of God, in preference to the emoluments 
of wealth, or great victories over his enemies, 
and God was so well pleased with his choice 
that He granted him, not only the desire of 
his heart, the burden of his prayer, but con- 
ferred upon him also great riches, long life, 
and kingly honors such as never, before or 
since, earthly potentate enjoyed. But great 
as was Solomon's wisdom, who would pre- 
sume that he was satisfied with his attain- 
ments in knowledge in this life, or that when 
he passed to the higher sphere of an immor- 



Ube Hctipitiea of 1beax>en 6d 

tal life, his desire to know, to search into the 
hidden mysteries of the works and ways of 
God, was in any manner abated? Does not 
inspiration clearly teach that the present life 
is but the incipient stage of our being, only a 
stage of probation, of trial, of preparation, a 
stage in which we are to lay the foundation 
of character, to start our activities in the 
right direction, to train our varied powers in 
the merest rudiments of work, that we may 
be pre pared to enter upon the higher stage 
of activity that awaits us in the life beyond? 
And when we shall have entered upon that 
immortal state, who will dare to say that 
there will be any bounds set to our progress, 
any limit prescribed to our attainments in 
knowledge, in holiness, in love, in the power 
to appreciate and enjoy the things that apper- 
tain to the Kingdom of God? 

The Apostle Peter speaks of ^^ Exceeding 
great and precious promises tvherehy we are 
become partakers of the Divine Nature,'' and if 
we are even now become partakers of that 
nature, which belongs in its perfection to God 



70 XTbe ©lories ot t>cavcn 



alone, shall we not ceaselessly aspire, not only 
in this life, but more especially, and more 
successfully, in the life beyond, to approxi- 
mate more and more closely to the glory and 
grandeur and the infinite perfection that 
belongs to that nature? But, ^^ The multi- 
plication of the finite can not produce the 
infinite," and while we may continually 
aspire, and continually advance toward that 
Infinite Paragon of Perfection, we can never 
reach it; but there will always be heights 
beyond yet accessible, and as in this earthly 
life, so in the heavenly, the more we know 
the more we will desire to know, and the 
nearer we approach, in nature, to God, the 
great Center of spiritual attraction, the 
stronger will become the force that impels us 
onward, the keener will become our suscepti- 
bility of enjoyment, the greater will become 
our capacity to receive, appreciate and appro- 
priate the glories of that blessed estate. The 
very nature of the faculties of the human 
mind points with unmistakable certainty to 
the fact that they were created for a state of 



Ube activitiea ot ftcapcn n 

ceaseless activity. It is by these faculties 
that we are allied to the Divine Nature; and 
were all their activities destined to cease, and 
the opportunities of progress to end with this 
life, then man were more a creature of time 
than of eternity; and this present time^ world 
would embrace the alMmportant part of man's 
existence. We rejoice to know from the 
analogies of nature, and from the positive 
declarations of Divine Revelation, that such 
is not the fact, that our God-given powers are 
not of ephemeral duration; but that the pious 
student, the earnest seeker after truth, 
whether in the realm of nature or of Re- 
vealed Truth, may exultingly write down for 
his motto, 

**1F StuDs rot Eternity/' 




CHAPTER X 
Classes in ticavcn 

ILL there be classes, or grades, 
or diversities of capacity and 
enjoyment, or different degrees 
of reward or retribution in the 
future life? Or will all who 
enter the Pearly Gates enjoy equally the 
felicities of Heaven? We will not ques- 
tion our own preconceived notions, in regard 
to this matter, but will appeal directly 
to the Sacred Oracles whose answer is 
clear and unequivocal. '^Whosoever there- 
fore shall break one of these least command- 
ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be 
called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven: 
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the 
same shall be called great in the Kingdom 
of Heaven." 

^'And, behold, I come quickly; and My 
reward is with Me, to give every man accord- 

12 



Classes in Ibeaven 73 

ing as his ivorh shall heJ^ When those 
afflicted with physical maladies, or plagued 
with evil spirits, appealed for aid to the 
Great Physician, who went about through 
the world "'doing good,'' His usual reply 
was, ^''According to thy faith so be it unto 
thee''; and thus the faith of the individual 
was made the measure of the blessing be- 
stowed. And we are exhorted to '^Ask 
largely that our joys may befull,^^ thus show- 
ing that fulness of joy is conditioned on our 
own voluntary acts. And again we are as- 
sured that, ^^ Our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Now 
it is evident, that all do not possess equally 
great faith, that all do not ask equally great 
things of God, that all do not pass through 
an equal degree of trial, affliction and per- 
secution; hence it is apparent that when every 
man is rewarded ^^ according as his ivork shall 
he^" that all will not receive an equal reward. 
And again w^e read of ^^ that disciple whom 
Jesus loved," implying, of course, that the 



74 Ube ©lories of Ibcnvcn 

Master, Himself, with His great love for all 
mankind — even for His worst enemies — 
possessed, nevertheless, a peculiar love, a 
special attachment, an intimate friendship, 
for a particular one of His disciples, exceed- 
ing that which He possessed for any other. 
If some are on more intimate terms with the 
Master than others, in this life, will they not 
likely be so in the life to come? Death 
works no moral transformations, and the 
moral status of the individual will determine 
the nearness of his approach to the Throne 
of the Immaculate, and so will be the measure 
of his felicity in the Kingdom of Glory. 

But what of the parable of the laborers, 
you ask, who were hired at different hours 
of the day to work in the vineyard, of whom 
some served but one hour, and that in the 
cool of evening, while others toiled through 
the heat and burden of the long weary day, 
and yet they received at eventide every man 
a penny? This parable is often interpreted 
as teaching equality of reward regardless of 
diversity of merit; but such an interpretation 



Qiaeecs in Deaven 75 



of it is not only out of harmony with the 
tenor of the Scriptures in general, but is an 
open, though unintentional, impeachment of 
Divine Justice. In order that we may under- 
stand the real import of the parable, let us 
notice carefully the conditions. ^^ And about 
the eleventh hour," we are told, that is about 
5 p. M., ^^ he went out and found others stand- 
ing idle, and saith unto them, ^Why stand 
ye here all the day idle?' They say imto 
him, ''Because no man hath hired us J ^^ Now 
is there any real difference of merit here ex- 
pressed? These last had not been idle from 
choice. Each accepted the first invitation 
given him. Each embraced the first oppor- 
tunity. What more could he do? Perhaps 
those hired at the eleventh hour were just as 
willing workers as those hired at the first. 
But how can a man labor for another unless 
he be employed and instructed? And how 
can a man do the things that pertain to 
righteousness, unless he, first, be informed of 
his duty toward God and his fellow men? 
The import of the parable is obviously this; 



70 Ube ©lories ot Ibcavcn 

that men will be rewarded in accordance to 
the opportunities they have accepted or re- 
jected, and not necessarily in proportion to 
the amount of work they may have accom- 
plished, or the number of years they may 
have been employed in the Master's service. 
It is applicable to the man who has lived in 
^' lands benighted " until he has reached the 
evening of life, and who, as soon as the Light 
is revealed to him, embraces the truth and 
walks in that Light, and it places him on an 
equality with the man who has been all his 
life long in the service, provided that the two 
have been equally zealous in the improve- 
ment of their opportunities. And it applies 
to the thief who, on the cross, in his dying 
hour, repented, believed, and was saved, never 
before having had knowledge of the way of 
salvation. And in the language of an eminent 
divine, — the Rev. John Riggs, — '' No man can 
tell just how low down in the Valley of Death 
God's Spirit may follow a man with the offer 
of Life Eternal." 
But it is not applicable to the man who has 



Classes in Meav>en 77 



had invitation after invitation to enter the 
Master's vineyard, and yet has stood idle 
until the evening shades of life have drawn 
on. Such an one may, perhaps, through 
mercy, yet be saved, but his lost opportunities 
are irretrievable; he can never be what he 
might have been; he can never receive the 
reward that he might have received; he can 
never win the laurels and wear the crown 
that might have graced his brow; and every 
slighted invitation is but another mountain 
of difficulty built by his own hands between 
him and Heaven, and renders his return to 
God, and his final salvation, yet more and 
more improbable. And no one can tell how 
soon God's Spirit may cease to strive with 
him! 

But will there be any dissatisfaction or 
discontent in Heaven in consequence of an 
inequality of reward and of enjoyment? 
Will there exist in Heaven any spirit of emu- 
lation or rivalry? Certainly not; for no one 
will find admittance there who has not at- 
tained to that degree of moral excellence that 



78 Xtbe ©lodes of ateaven 



will exclude all selfishness and cause him to 
love his neighbor as himself. So even if he 
who is ^' least in the Kingdom of Heaven" 
is conscious of the fact of his inferiority, he 
will rejoice, not only in his own blessed 
estate, but also in the greater blessedness of 
those who have reached higher attainments 
than himself. Besides this the reward and 
enjoyment of each will be commensurate with 
his capacity to receive and enjoy. Every one 
who is so fortunate even as to barely pass 
through the shining portals into that City of 
Eternal Day will find his cup of rejoicing 
full to its utmost capacity, ^^ shaken down, 
pressed together, and running over." Yet 
while each one is perfectly happy in his 
sphere, and according to his capacity, there 
will be great diversity of gifts, of powers, 
and of attainments. '^ As one star differeth 
from another star in glory," yet each one 
shineth with an effulgence that is perfect in 
itself, and peculiar to itself, and is, within 
itself, an essential entity in God's great plan 



Claaaes in Ibeaven 79 



of the universe; so shall each one of God's 
children, who is true to himself, ^^ stand in his 
lot," and fill his place, and be a significant 
factor in that great Spiritual Firmament, that 
shall shine forever and ever around the 
Great White Throne. 

What, then, shall we conclude in regard to 
those who have lived under a cloud of heathen 
darkness, shut out from the light and the 
benign influences of Divine Revelation, and 
yet have delighted to trace the finger of God 
in His handiwork, who have sought to know 
the truth, and have loved the right for its 
own sake — for its intrinsic excellence per se? 
Surely their rew ard will be proportionate to 
their zeal for the right, and their works of 
helpfulness, mercy and love for their fellow 
men. Those who, in the absence of a surer 
light, have found their highest enjoylnent in 
^^ looking through nature up to nature's God," 
will surely, in that higher sphere, be per- 
mitted ^^ to see Him as He is," and to dwell 
in that life-giving light that emanates from 



80 XTbe ©lories of Ibeaven 

His throne, so full and free. And doubtless 
many will thus come up from out of the 
shadows of ignorance and superstition as 
bright jewels for the Master's crown, and put 
to shame those w^ho might have walked in the 
fulness of the light, but who, through indif- 
ference to their own higher interests, ^^ have 
neglected so great salvation," or have ac- 
tually '^ loved darkness rather than light, be- 
cause their deeds are evil." '' The people of 
Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this 
generation and shall condemn it," says Christ; 
^^ for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, 
and behold a greater than Jonah is here." 

How great, then, is our responsibility, and 
how exemplary should be our lives, who walk 
in the noonday light of the Gospel Dispen- 
sation! " Wherefore seeing we also are com- 
passed about with so great a cloud of wit- 
nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and 
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let 
us run with patience the race that is set be- 
fore us; looking unto Jesus the author and 
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that 



Classes in t)ea\?en 81 

was set before Him endured the cross, de- 
spising the shame, and is set down at the 
right hand of the Throne of God." And, like 
Moses, the servant of God, let us "' have re- 
spect unto the recompense of reward." 



CHAPTER XI 




plenty in fjeaven 

INCE the day that Adam 
through transgression was 
driven out of the beautiful 
garden of Eden, since from 
the High Chancery of Heaven 
went forth the stern and irrevocable decree, 
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
BREAD," and the very earth was through man's 
disobedience cursed, so that it brought forth 
" thorns and thistles," since down from the 
Shining Courts of Day came, as on the wings 
of the wind, the Messenger of God's Wrath, 
and speeding, with breathless haste and tear- 
ful eye, to the scene of man's great catas- 
trophe, placed round about the Tree of Life 
a turning flaming sword; since that sad, sad 
day, since that dark eventful hour, how great 
has been the sufferings of untold thousands 
of the human race through famine, poverty 

82 



plenty in Ibeaven 83 

and destitution! How many homes where 
comfort, peace and gladness might have pre- 
vailed, have become the scenes of sorrow and 
sadnes; because the ' gaunt wolf ' has entered 
at the door! How many a "mother of help- 
less and depending children with no living 
friend in all the w^ide world to whom she might 
appeal for succor " has wrung her hands in 
bitterest anguish, while her little ones have 
begged in vain for bread! And how many a 
helpless and unfortunate waif with neither 
father, nor mother, nor sympathizing friend, 
unheeded by the busy and thoughtless 
throng, and scorned by the haughty and 
proud, has been permitted to actually 
starve, or freeze to death on the streets 
of our great cities ! The full extent of the 
misery, the depth of the destitution, and 
wretchedness, and woe that abound in the 
sparsely settled and famine^swept regions of 
the West, and in the over populous cities of 
the East, Eternity alone shall reveal. But 
why contemplate these dark scenes? Why 
sympathize with these unfortunate way- 



84 XCbe GlotieB of Ibeavcn 



farers? Because they are our brothers and 
our sisters, our Heavenly Father's own dear 
children, and equally as precious in His 
sight as the more fortunate and prosperous 
ones. Why then, you ask, does He permit 
them thus to suffer? If He is a God of 
Mercy and Love, why does He allow sorrow 
and suffering to befall any of His children? 
And we answer, the sorrows and sufferings, 
the woes and misfortunes of life — as we term 
them — are not usually ministrations of wrath, 
but really blessings in disguise, agencies in 
the hand of a beneficent Heavenly Father to 
lead us to a higher, a purer, a nobler life. 
But Glory be to God for the promise of a 
a land, a state, a condition, where no such 
discipline is needful, a land where want and 
woe shall never enter, a land where plenty 
abounds, not alone for the few, hut for every 
ONE. How rich indeed will be the inheri- 
tance, how blessed the estate of the saints in 
that Glory Land, where '' He that sitteth on 
the Throne shall dwell among them, and 
they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 



Iplents in Ibeax^en 83 



more; for the Lamb which is in the midst of 
the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead 
them unto Living Fountains of waters: and 
God shall wipe aw^ay all tears from their 
eyes'M Can you imagine what that never- 
ending feast will be like, when the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the Throne, the 
Atoning Lamb of Calvary, the Risen Lamb 
of Emmaus, the Ascended Lamb of Olivet, 
the Incarnate Son of God, the Reigning 
Prince of Heaven, shall condescend to 
minister to His ransomed, blood-bought 
saints in Glory, shall feed them on Hea- 
venly Manna, and shall lead them over 
plains Elysian, through pastures Green be- 
neath waving pensile boughs, laden with 
healing leaves and luscious fruits, and beside 
flowing fountains of Living Waters? Little 
matters it then whether the path of our 
earthly pilgrimage lies in shadow or in sheen, 
if only we are true to our spiritual interests. 
Little matters it if we hunger and thirst here, 
if only like Moses we '^ choose rather to suffer 
aflSiction with the people of God, than to be 



86 Ube ©lories of t)eav>en 



called the son of Pharaoh's daughter"; for 
we shall, by and by partake of the rich 
bounties of Heaven, and Be Satisfied; When 
We Shall ''Awake in His Likeness." 

'' Yes, by and by will soon be now, 
And God shall wipe each tear-stained brow; 
The Lamb shall feed them from the Throne, 
To Living Waters lead His own." 

''Impatient soul, and murmuring heart. 
Your murmuring cease and bear your part 
Of pain and labor on life's road. 
For soon 'twill lead thee to thy God." 



> i 



CHAPTER XII 




Ube Xanguage ot Uteav^en 

T is an established principle of 
Comparative Philology that 
the number and variety of 
words in the vocabulary of 
any people, and the accuracy, 
precision and nicety of adaptation of those 
v^ords to the expression of delicate and 
discriminative shades of thought, feeling 
and purpose are an infallible and unequiv- 
ocal index to the stage of civilization and 
refinement attained by that people. Man 
starts in infancy on a career that is immortal 
without the knowledge of a single word by 
which to express even his simplest and most 
rudimentary wants. His first language is a 
cry or a groan in no way superior to what 
might be uttered by any of the lower orders 
of nature. But by and by his mind begins 
to expand, and that principle within him 

87 



88 Ube ©lories of 1E)ea\>en 

which is allied to the Divine begins to mani- 
fest itself, and he gradually and almost un- 
consciously adopts the use of a few simple 
words to express his crude ideas. This is 
but the incipient stage of one of those God- 
given powers with which man is endowed, and 
which may be indefinitely yea infinitely de- 
veloped. And so as man's field of knowledge 
broadens, and his ideas become more and more 
numerous and complex, he constantly finds 
need of new words, wherewith to clothe re- 
spectably the new concepts begotten by the 
activities of his own mind. Thus of his own 
progress in knowledge is born the necessity 
of a more extensive vocabulary, and of a 
language of greater versatility and flexibility. 
How insufficient the vocabulary, how inade- 
quate the phraseology of the unlettered rustic 
would be for the use of the learned philoso- 
pher, or commentator, or the writer of a 
metaphysical discussion! And much more 
insufficient and inappropriate for the use of 
the Ransomed Hosts of Heaven would be the 
most elegant and refined, the most learned. 



Ztc Xanauage of 1bea\>en 89 

erudite and classic, the most euphonious and 
mellifluous, the m.ost profound and sublime 
or the most tender and reverential language 
ever spoken or conceived by mortal man. 
AYhat then, you ask, will be the language 
of Heaven ? We do not knov7. We can not 
know. It could not now be revealed unto us 
— except our capacities were enlarged — for it 
is beyond the scope of our comprehension. 
It will transcend, excel and tower above the 
limitations and imperfections of the lan- 
guages of earth, just as the knowledge and 
capacity of the Glorified Immortals tran- 
scend that of man in his present state. 
Enough for us to know, it will be a language 
fully adapted to the expression of all that is 
grand and good, noble and sublime. It will 
be the language of love: no harsh words will 
mar its beauty. It will be the language of 
worship: no profane or irreverent terms will 
tarnish its purity. It will be the language of 
truth: no falsehood will ever disgrace it. It 
will be the language of innocence and unsel- 
fishness: no foul gossip will ever pollute it. 



90 Ubc ©lories ot Ibeapen 

It will be a language of peace and joy and 
gladness. It will be a general, a uniform 
language. On the plains of Heaven, no 
Tower of Babel will ever be built. No con- 
fusion of tongues will there exist. As on 
the day of Pentecost every man heard in his 
own tongue, notwithstanding the disciples of 
Christ spoke but one language, so in that 
great day every man will be able to hear and 
speak and comprehend in one language the 
mysteries and glories of that immortal state. 




CHAPTER XIII 

XTbe Society ot Deaven 

N this present life ^'thewheat^^ 
and ""the tares ^' must grow 
together. Those who desire 
above all else to keep them- 
selves ''unspotted from the 
world," and to '' abstain from all appearance 
of evil " must often from necessity come into 
daily contact with the foul and the vicious, 
must commingle with, and be surrounded by, 
^^ that baser sort of fellows " who carry with 
them, wherever they go, an atmosphere pol- 
luted with profanity and moral malaria, and 
pregnant with the germs of dissolution and 
spiritual death. And from this cause as much 
as from any other, springs the necessity of 
a watchfulness so untiring, a vigilance so 
unceasing, on the part of those who would 
'' overcome the world,'' and '' escape the 
snares of the wicked one." 

91 



92 Ube 0Iorie6 of 1bea\>en 



We are morally amenable for the society 
we keep, in jnst so far as that society is 
a matter of selection and choice — or of cul- 
pable indifference — on our own part ; and so 
well is this understood that it has passed into 
a proverb : ^^ Tell me the company you keep, 
and I w411 tell you who you are." 

Sometimes, however, it becomes the duty 
of the Christian to seek the society of the 
vicious, that he may be the means of impart- 
ing to them that spiritual leaven which shall, 
under God, work out their moral renovation. 
But to the faithful child of God, who goes 
thus on a mission of mercy and love, the dan- 
ger of infection and contamination is much 
less than to others ; because he goes in the 
power of the Holy Spirit, '^having his feet 
shod with the preparation of the Gospel of 
Peace." Yet every experienced Christian 
knows how much more difficult it is to pre- 
serve an immaculate life, when surrounded 
by the emissaries of Satan, than when asso- 
ciated with those who are hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness. Our advance- 



Ube Society of Meaven 03 



ment in the Divine Life often depends very 
largely upon our environments. This is not, 
however, as it should be ; a child of God 
should not be so much ^^ a creature of cir- 
cumstances," but such is the weakness, and 
such the imperfection of human nature, es- 
pecially in childhood ; and this fact we are 
expected to recognize ; for we are taught to 
pray, '^ Lead us not into temptation." 

In selecting a location for a home there is, 
therefore, to the thoughtful person, no more 
important question to be decided than this: 
What is the society of the place — what is the 
status, moral and intellectual, of those by 
whom I am to be surrounded, and with whom 
I, and my family, must associate? 

Even in the best society that it is possible 
to find on earth how much there is of influence 
that is not salutary, how much of weakness 
and human imperfection, if not of overt and 
aggressive evil. Our adversary, the devil, is 
abroad in the land, ^^ going to and fro, seek- 
ing whom he may devour," not always '^ as a 
roaring lion" seeking to terrify, but frequent- 



04 Xlbe ©lories of Deaven 

ly as an insidious and circumventive foe, lay- 
ing snares to entrap us, where least expected. 
No spot on earth is secure from the intrusion 
of sin, or from invasion by the allied armies 
of the powers of darkness. 

But will it always be thus ? Will the se- 
ducing influences of sin forever abide, and 
Satan continue to deceive the nations, and to 
devise pitfalls for the feet of the unwary? 
No, ^^ Thanks be to God who giveth us the 
victory,'' we have the assurance of ^^A New 
Heaven and A New Earth, wherein dwelleth 
Righteousness." '' For unto us a Child is born, 
unto us a Son is given : and the government 
shall be upon His shoulder; and His name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The 
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The 
Prince of Peace." '' And of the increase of 
His government and peace there shall be no 
end." ''And an highway shall be there, and 
a way, and it shall be called The Way of 
Holiness." '' The unclean shall not pass 
over it." '' No lion shall be there, nor any 
ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall 



Ube SocfetB of tycavcn 95 

not be found there, but the Redeemed shall 
walk there, and the Ransomed of the Lord 
shall return and come to Zion with Songs and 
Everlasting Joy upon their heads: they shall 
obtain Joy and Gladness, and sorrow and 
sighing shall flee away.'' 

Yes, when we meet around the Great 
White Throne, and walk the Gold-paved 
Streets, we shall be forever free from the do- 
minion of sin, forever beyond the allurements, 
illusions and vexations of ungodly associa- 
tions. We will there hold sweet converse 
with Moses and Elias, with Enoch who 
^^ walked with God and was not [on earth]; 
for God took him [to Heaven],'^ with the pa- 
triarchs and prophets of old, with the apos- 
tles and martyrs of more modern times, with 
the noble, the true and the good of every age, 
and every clime, with that innumerable com- 
pany who '^ have washed their robes and 
made them tvhite in the blood of the Lamb," 
with '^ the spirits of just men made perfect," 
and with the angels of God, who have kept 
their first high and holy estate. 



06 Ube Glories of Ibeaven 

With all of these Sanctified, Glorified and 
Beatified beings for our intimate associates 
and companions, and with the immediate 
presence of Christ our Saviour, seated upon 
the Throne of His Infinite Glory, crowned 
King of kings and Lord of lords, what more 
congenial companionship could the soul of 
man desire? What more perfect provision 
for happiness, for joy without measure, for 
felicity inexpressible can the mind of man 
conceive ? Could we but visit the Glory Land 
and enjoy its associations for a single day, 
how highly would we prize the privilege, and 
how very swiftly would those precious mo- 
ments seem to fly I How greatly the enjoy- 
ments of our fondest earthly associations are 
curtailed by the intrusive thought that we so 
very soon must part! And how very much 
the enjoyment of that Heavenly companion- 
ship will be heightened and intensified by the 
fact that in that Happy Home no separations 
will be necessary, and that sad, sad word 
Good-Bye need never more be said! 




CHAPTER XIV 

XTbe Ibarmoni? of •fceaven 

HERE discord, division and 
dissension exist no real peace, 
no lasting enjoyment is pos- 
sible. No stringed instru- 
ment can give forth sweet, 
tender, touching strains of music, unless its 
chords vibrate in perfect harmony. No human 
soul whose powers, inclinations and propensi- 
ties, varied though they be, have not been tuned 
and set in order by the Master Musician of 
the universe, and trained, by careful discipline, 
to act in unison under the magical sway of the 
Divine Spirit's quickening touch can sound 
over the waves of life's tempestuous sea that 
sublime note of harmony, which shall be as 
oil cast on the troubled wave, — harmony with 
the eternal law of fitness, harmony with self, 
harmony with God and all God's approved 
creatures. ^^ Every kingdom divided against 

97 



08 Zbc ©lories of t)ea\>en 



itself/' says Christ, ^'is brought to desolation; 
and every city or house divided against itself 
shall not stand." Hence we see that harmony 
is everything^ both to the individual, and to 
organizations or corporate bodies; and that 
the want of it invariably brings disaster and 
failure. But shall perfect harmony ever be 
attained by mortals? If so, when, and how? 
And whence came these disturbing influences 
which so often mar our happiness, and blight 
our fairest prospects of peace? To tell 
whence they came is no difl&cult task; for 
are they not all the fruitage, either direct or 
indirect, of sin, the result of man's disobe- 
dience and fall? From selfishness and envy 
spring contentions, quarrels and divisions, 
these are the direct fruits of sin. But a very 
large proportion of the discord and want of 
harmony existing among those who are striv- 
ing to '^ overcome the world " and to live a 
better life is due to a misapprehension of 
each others motives, and hence is only an in- 
direct result of sin. Our knowledge being 
imperfect, our temperaments, our training 



Uhc Ibatmon^ of Deaven 99 

and our inherent powers of comprehension 
different, it is very natural that the decisions 
of our judgment and the dictates of our con- 
sciences should in many instances be diverse, 
and sometimes even conflictive. Hence we 
are sometimes led to regard as a moral offence 
that which was meant by a conscientious 
brother or sister as an act of absolute moral 
rectitude; and in thus failing to make due 
allowance for the difference in appearance of 
things when seen through different media, or 
from different points of perspective, we often 
judge each other wrongfully. But in the 
clearer light and knowledge, the perfect 
purity, the abounding charity, the all==embrac- 
ing love of Heaven, how different! Where 
the highest aspiration, yea the most profound 
and absorbing passion, of every soul is to 
gloify God, where that amazing love that in- 
duced the Immaculate Son of God to give 
His life a ransom for us, is reproduced in 
the hearts of His redeemed Sons and Daugh- 
ters, who are already ^^ made partakers of the 
Divine Nature," what harmony, what unity, 



100 XTbe (Bloties of iHeaven 



what perfect tranquillity, what unalloyed and 
unbounded peace will prevail! 

While God^s children may never attain, 
and need not expect perfect similarity of 
mind, perfect accord of thought, desire and 
purpose in this life, yet it should be our con- 
stant endeavor, as children of one Divine 
Father, co-heirs of one Heavenly Heritage, to 
grow up into that perfect unity that becometh 
the Sons of God; for the command is, ^^ Be ye 
therefore Perfect, even as your Father which 
is in Heaven is Perfect." 

In Heaven alone, where no sin is found, 
There will perfect harmony abound. 



CHAPTER XV 




TLvavcUrxQ in Ibcavcn 

HERE will be no plodding with 
weary feet along the bright 
golden street. There will be 
no waiting for the street car 
that we may take a ride. On 
the spacious avenues of Heaven no such nui- 
sance as a rumbling car will be known. No 
necessity for such a thing will exist. No law 
of gravitation will bind our imponderous 
spirits down, or retard the agility and celerity 
of our movements, but we shall mount up, 
like an aspiration, and by mere volition, upon 
the afHatus of our own ecstasy, and like a 
bright beam of the morning sunlight, float and 
soar in the empyreal ether of Heaven, with an 
ease, grace and rapidity unknown even to the 
humming-bird. We shall bask in the ceru- 
lean light and balmy zephyrs that breathe 
sweet music in cadences mild among the 
healing leaves and pensile boughs of Life's 

lOi 



102 Ube (Blortes of Ibeaven 



Fair Tree, or skim swallow4ike over the sur- 
face of the River of Life or the Crystal Sea 
of Glass, while our hearts pulsate in harmony 
to the rhythmic flow of the Glad Redemption 
Song. There will be no clatter of noisy 
wheels, no tread of hurrying feet, nor yet 
hum of multitudinous wings as the Ran- 
somed Army of the Lord sweep in glad tri- 
umph along the bright Arcades of Heaven, 
through the Pearly Gates, or over the illimi- 
table Elysian Fields of light. But noiselessly 
as moves the genial sunlight on a bright 
spring morning, when first mounts the King 
of Day above the eastern horizon, so will 
move that mighty throng, save that, ever and 
anon, loud hosannas, glad shouts of triumph, 
sweet strains of music will break forth from 
myriads of tongues harmonious and make 
Heaven's welkin dome to ring. 

(1.) '* A sudden blaze of song 

Spreads o'er the expanse of Heaven, 
In waves of light it thrills along 

The angelic signal given: 
Glory to God! from yonder central fire 
Flows out the echoing beyond the starry choir. 



XCraveliitfl (n Ibeaven 103 



(2.) " Like circles, widening round 

Upon a clear blue river, 
Orb after orb the wondrous sound 

Is echoed on forever: 
Glory to Grod on high! on earth be peace, 
And love toward men of love, salvation and release.' 




CHAPTER XVI 
Xlbe permanence ot Ibeaven 

IME is a measured portion of 
duration, a kingdom whose 
extent and confines are con- 
cealed from mortal vision, but 
whose bounds and limita- 
tions are clearly prescribed on the records of 
the Omniscient, a kingdom presided over by 
a relentless and arbitrary despot whose name 
is Change, whose absolute fiat can neither be 
evaded nor revoked. In all the vast realm of 
time there is nothing abiding or permanent. 
Wherever Construction goes Destruction fol- 
lows. Constructive genius and assiduous 
toil may rear magnificent palaces, and where 
erst the rude wigwam stood, under the hand 
of labor and art, beautiful cities may spring 
into existence, as if by magic. But, alas, how 
very soon the whirlwind's wrath, the earth- 
quake's shock or the hissing flame's mad fury 

104 



Ube ff^etmanence ot Ibcavcn 105 



may wipe them from the face of the earth. 
The most enduring material monument man 
can construct to commemorate his greatness 
(?)orto mark his final resting place will 
gradually yield to the same inevitable law of 
change. The solid marble will crumble back 
to dust. "' The granite rocks disorganize to 
feed the hungry moss they bear." Nor is this 
all; the law of change is no less applicable 
to man himself than to the work of his hands. 
Every son and daughter of Adam's race is 
born a subject (nolens volens) of this inexor- 
able potentate. He comes into this world an 
innocent and helpless babe. He reclines on 
a fond mother's breast in safety and perfect 
peace, and what happiness, what immunity 
from sorrow and care are his! But he can- 
not remain in this stage. He cannot tarry 
amid these pleasant environments. Change 
is written on every fibre and tissue of his 
physical being, and as the days are multi- 
plied into weeks and months and years, its 
work becomes manifest. He is borne alorg 
on the ceaseless tide of years, through child- 



100 XCbe ©lories of meaven 



hood's checkered scenes, and varied experi- 
ences, to manhood's or womanhood's proud 
and hopeful maturity; and so he stands at 
last on the summit of physical perfection, 
and looks out with high anticipations upon 
the broad avenues of human enterprise and 
activity. Could he, like Joshua of old, com- 
mand the sun to stand still, could he but re- 
main for a thousand years on that summit, 
how much he might accomplish, what knowl- 
edge acquire, what enviable heights attain! 
But he is still in the realm of mutability. The 
very earth on which he stands is moving and 
changing. He can find no foothold on which 
he may stand still. No, not even long enough 
to retrospect the devious path already trod- 
den, or to outline his future course. His 
progress up the hill of life has been a very 
rapid one, so much so that we hear him com- 
paring it to a race. But when he has passed 
the summit and begins to descend the western 
slope will he travel more slowly, will more 
leisure be granted him? Nay, verily, but as 
he advances his speed seems rather to accel- 



Ube permanence of 1bea\>en 107 

erate, and he is hurried on through life, past 
its privileges, past its opportunities, past 
coveted treasures, past anticipated attain- 
ments, until he stands at last on the verge of 
the grave comparatively empty-handed and 
destitute. 

Or what signifies it, if, in the rapid race of 
life, he may perchance have hoarded wealth, 
or won renown? These will not stay the 
hand of death, or bridge the river over which 
he must pass- And when the boatman calls 
for him, whom shall he recognize but the ty- 
rant Change, still grim-visaged and stern, 
but more welcome now, perhaps, than ever 
before ; for the passage of the river is the 
final transition from the '^ Kingdom of Mat- 
ter" where Change reigns supreme, to the 
"Kingdom of Spirit," where death and decay 
are swallowed up by victory, and Immortal- 
ity forever reigns. To the child of God this 
simply means going Home: ''For we know 
that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a 
house not made with hands, eternal in the 



108 Zbc Oloriea ot Heaven 

heavens." Our Saviour says, '' In My Fa- 
ther's house are many mansions: if it were 
not so, I would have told you. I go to pre- 
pare a place for you. And if I go and pre- 
pare a place for you, I will come again and 
receive you unto Myself ; that where I am, 
there ye may be also." '^ The world passeth 
away^ and the lust thereof : but he that doeth 
the will of God abideth for every ^^And this 
is the promise that He hath given us, even 
Eternal Life." ''Blessed be the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, ac- 
cording to His abundant mercy hath begot- 
ten us again unto a lively hope, by the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an 
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and 
thatfadeth not aivay^ reserved in Heaven for 
you, who are kept by the power of God 
through faith unto salvation, ready to be re- 
vealed in the last time." "And when the 
CfflEF Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive 
a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away^ 
''And every one that hath forsaken houses, 
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 



Ube ipetmanence of IHeaven 109 

or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's 
sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall 
inherit Everlasting Life." Many more such 
passages might be cited. God's Word 
abounds in promises which give assurance 
of the permanence and durability of the 
state of future blessedness. With what sig- 
nificance are these '^exceeding great and 
precious promises " fraught ! How much of 
solid comfort, of real substantial enjoyment, 
they bring to every loyal, trusting child of 
God! What a blessed assurance is ours, 
that when this fleeting life is over, we shall 
enter upon a life of never-ending felicity, and 
wear a crown of never==fading glory, if only 
we faint not by the way. '' Bless the Lord, 
my soul, and all that is within me, bless His 
Holy Name!" 




CHAPTER XVII 
alleluia, or TlXIlorsbfp in Heaven 

ATURALLY and intuitively 
does every man born into the 
world with normal intellec- 
tual powers, realize the fact 
of the existence of a power 
that is superhuman and supernatural. '^The 
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God"; 
but not from lack of evidence to the contrary 
hath he said it, nor from inability to compre- 
hend the unmistakable teachings of nature, but 
from the perversity and willful obstinacy of 
his nature. So forcibly does intuition speak 
to man of a Superior Power, a higher intelli- 
gence, and urge him on to acts of homage and 
adoration that, in the absence of any definite 
knowledge of the true nature or attributes of 
this '^ Great Spirit," man almost invariably 
worships some material object, — not gener- 
ally as God, — but more commonly as an im- 

liO 



Hllelufa, or Motsbip in lOeaven III 

personation or symbol of God ; for he is 
very sure that God exists. As a creature 
of worship was man made. Adoration, and 
homage, and song, and prayer and praise are 
essential parts of his native element, and 
without them he can not be happy. And it 
is not a matter of chance that such employ- 
ments are conducive to the highest happiness 
of man, but it arises from the fact, and is an 
evidence of the fact, that these things lie 
along the line of the activities for which 
man's powers were created and designed. 

As the grandest theme that can engage the 
mind of any finite creature is the majesty, the 
grandeur, the glory of the Infinite Creator, 
and the most tender and pathetic, and at the 
same time the most thrilling and sublime 
emotions that can move the sensibilities of a 
ransomed mortal, a redeemed soul, are those 
emotions that arise when we contemplate the 
grand scheme of Redeeming Love, so the 
sublimest language known to man is employed 
in God's Word to portray to our conception 
some faint idea of the grand outbursts and 



112 Ubc (Bloriea of t)eaven 

overflowings of those profound and all-absorb- 
ing emotions of reverence and adoration, of 
praise and of thanksgiving that will engage 
our souls as we stand before the Throne of 
Omnipotence, and with enraptured gaze look 
upon Our Saviour and Our King, and as we 
with all the earnestness and intensity of our 
new-born powers ascribe Honor and Power, 
and Glory and Dominion, forever and ever, 
'^Unto Him who loved us, and hath washed us 
from our sins in His own precious blood," 
who hath ransomed and redeemed us from 
under the curse of the law, to be kings and 
priests unto God. So, '' That disciple whom 
Jesus loved,'' and who was doubtless best 
fitted to be Revelator of the hidden mysteries 
and the ineffable glories of the Celestial City, 
in his attempt to describe the worship of 
Heaven, breaks forth in language than which 
no sublimer was ever penned, language which 
stands, to-day, as a model par excellence of all 
that is grand and sublime and noble in the 
speech of mortals. Indeed it seems very prob- 
able that that one sweetly solemn and sacred 



HUelula, or Wotsbtp in toeaven lis 

word, ^^AUeluia^^ so frequently recurring 
in this connection, so conspicuously want- 
ing elsewhere, and so peculiarly and richly 
fraught with the very genius of the Land of 
Glorified Immortals, is a veritable fragment 
of the language of Heaven. We are told that 
the word comes to us direct from the original 
Hebrew, but that fact only heightens the 
probability that it is a gem to mortals lent 
from Heaven's own vocabulary. Be that as 
it may, the word is within itself a rich treas- 
ure. ^''Alleluia,''' means Praise ye the Lord. 
How significant! How richly comprehen- 
sive! It embraces the whole purpose of 
man's creation; viz., the honor and glory of 
the Creator. But let us read that inimitable 
description, "' And let him that readeth under- 
stand." 

*^ I heard a great voice of much people in 
Heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and 
Glory, and Honor, and Power unto the 
Lord, our God: for True and Righteous are 
His judgments." ''And again they said, 
Alleluia, and the four-and-twenty elders 



114 Ube ©lories ot 1Hea\>cn 



and the four beasts fell down and worshiped 
God, who sat on the Throne, saying, Amen; 
Alleluia, and a voice came out of the Throne 
saying. Praise Our God, all ye His servants 
and ye that fear Him, both small and great.'' 
'^And I heard as it were the voice of a 
great multitude, and as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder- 
ings, saying, x\lleuia; For the Lord God 
Omnipotent Reigneth." '^ Let us be glad and 
rejoice and give honor to Him: for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath 
made herself ready." "And I saw as it were 
a sea of glass mingled with fire: and [I saw] 
them that had gotten the victory over the 
beast, and over his image, and over his mark, 
and over the number of his name, stand on the 
sea of glass, having the harps of God, and 
they sing The Song of Moses, the servant of 
God, and Tee Song of the Lamb, saying: 

** ©reat anD /Bbacreloue are Zb^ TOorfts, 
%oxb ©0^ aimf5bti5» 
5u6t anD ^rue Bre tlb^ TCDla^s 
XTbou IklttQ of Saints/' 

''And I beheld and heard the voice of many 



HUeluia, or Movebip in fteapen 115 

angels round about the Throne, and the 
beasts and the elders — and the number of 
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, 
and thousands of thousands — saying with a 
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 
to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, 
ai26/ Strength, and Honor, and Glory, and 
Blessing." '^And every creature which is in 
Heaven, and on the earth, and under the 
earth, and such as are in the sea, heard I, say- 
ing. Blessing, and Honor, and Glory, and 
Power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
Throne, and unto the Lamb forever and for 
ever." 

Did you ever think how much the devo- 
tional spirit that dwells within you is 
strengthened, intensified and confirmed by 
hallowed associations and surroundings? 
How much easier, pleasanter, more satisfac- 
tory and unrestrained is worship when in 
God's house surrounded by congenial and 
devout spirits, than when in the busy marts 
of worldly ambition, where greed and avarice 
dwell, or among the gay and thoughtless 



U6 Ube ©lories of Ibeaven 

throng of youthful pleasure^seekers, or worse 
still, among the inveterate scoffers, who point 
the finger of scorn and derision at him who 
acknowledges any power or being superior to 
himself! And did you ever think, if permit- 
ted to join that adoring throng of angels and 
elders whose voices the Eevelator heard, at 
one time, more than a hundred millions 
strong, and that ransomed host from earth 
" whom no man can number," crying. Alle- 
luia, Amen, Hosanna to Christ, Our King! 
how the spark of devotion, now so nearly dor- 
mant in your breast, will be fanned into a 
flame of holy fervor, and how your love, so 
feeble and faltering now, for Him who once 
wore the " crown of thorns," for your sake, 
but now wears a Crown of Victory, will 
grow into an all-absorbing and irrepressible 
zeal, a holy enthusiasm that knows no 
bound ? 

And did you ever think how your love for 
Christ and His cause, your appreciation of 
things sacred, your ^' Joy in the Holy Ghost," 
and all things else that pertain to your Spir- 



Hlleluia, or Worsbip in 1bea\?en 117 

itual Life grow, expand, unfold and develop 
under the benign influence of the few brief sea- 
sons of prayer, communion and devotion en- 
joyed in this life? And have you, while re- 
joicing in the richness of the blessings thus 
vouchsafed to you by these brief "times of 
refreshing," endeavored to compare the mea- 
ger opportunities of these earthly convoca- 
tions with the infinitely greater and more 
glorious facilities of spiritual growth which 
Heaven itself will afford? And have you 
tried to conceive the sublime heights of spir- 
itual excellence and glory Divine that will 
then be easily accessible to you, when you 
shall hear the Master's voice loving, tenderly 
calling, '' Come Up Higher," and when with 
His own gentle Hand, bearing still the marks 
of the cruel cross. He shall lead forth His 
Ransomed Host o'er Fields Elysian, and 
point out the Shining Way to Glories Super- 
nal and Sempiternal, crying, "Still Onward 
and upward?" 



Ube ©lories of Deaven 

OR 

Q:be :fl3le66eD £6tate ot tbe IRedeemcD 

PART II 

... l)edoen an Exalted moral Conaition ... 



«*Por behold the kingdom of Qod is within you.*' 



** The klngrdom of Qod is righteousness and peace and Joy 
in the Holy Qhost.*' 




Deaven an eu\M moral Conaitlon 

CHAPTER I 

General IRemarfts 

N the preceding chapters we 
have confined ourselves almost 
exclusively to a contemplation 
of Heaven in a material sense 
— Heaven Considered as a Lo- 
cal Habitation — Heaven as a city that hath 
foundations, whose Maker and Builder is 
God." And for so considering it, we have 
ample warrant in God's own inspired and re- 
vealed Truth; and if any apology is necessary 
for presenting the material view of the subject 
first, sufiice it to say, such is the natural or- 
der of the development of the idea of Heaven 
in the human mind; and only by degrees 
does the Great Teacher lead us up through, 
and by means of, the material and the con- 
crete, to that stage where our intelligence can 
grasp and comprehend the import of abstract 

121 



\22 Ubc OlovicB ot Deaden 



spiritual Truth. And never, perhaps, in this 
life shall we be able to form a just concep- 
tion of the great and mysterious change that 
shall be wrought in us by Power Divine, 
when that which has been ^' sown in corrup- 
tion shall be raised in incorruption," or to 
understand just how far the material and 
physical natures with which w^e are now en- 
dowed shall be submerged in, or superseded 
by, that which is immaterial and spiritual. 
We know that Christ, the Resurrection and 
the Life, ''the First Fruits of them that 
slept," was raised from the dead with a body 
apparently material, and yet able to vanish, 
like a spirit, from the vision of man; and 
'' We know that when He shall appear we 
shall be like Him." Glorious transformation ! 
Wonderful, wonderful work of Infinite Power 
and Wisdom! 

In many ways are we taught in God's Word 
that man in his present state is unable and 
unworthy to look upon God as He is, and in- 
competent to understand, directly and with- 
out the aid of similitudes, or parables, the 



(Bencral IRemarfts 123 

deep mysteries that appertain to His king- 
dom. Moses could not look upon God, face 
to face, but was only permitted to behold His 
glory in the semblance of a bush that burned 
with fire and yet was not consumed. He 
was not even allowed to draw nigh to the 
sacred spot, where God thus revealed His 
immediate presence; and yet he was after- 
ward permitted to go up into Mount Sinai and 
thereto commune, in some mysterious manner, 
with God, while Israel's hosts stood in the 
valley, and were forbidden to come nigh 
that thunder-shaken and cloud-enveloped 
mountain, lest they die. Christ declares to 
His disciples, '^ I have many things to say 
unto you, but ye can not bear them now." 
'^ And with parables spake He the word unto 
them, as they were able to hear.'^ Paul says 
to the Corinthians, ^' I have fed you with 
milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were 
not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye 
able." So we may certainly infer that many, 
at least, of the material representations of 
Heaven, given in the Holy Scriptures, are 



124 trbe ©lories of Ibeaven 



rather beautiful metaphors, sublime allego- 
ries, designed to convey to our immature and 
finite minds some faint conception of a glory 
and excellence which we cannot now other- 
wise comprehend, rather dim portrayals of 
glories supernal that shall dawn upon our 
enraptured vision, when at last we shall 
awake to a glorious immortality, rather than 
literal descriptions of material realities. 
Grand and glorious indeed are the con- 
ceptions we form, and sublime, ineffably 
sublime, the visions of glory that rise in an 
effulgence of living light upon our enraptured 
gaze as we, by an eye of faith, or through the 
medium of Inspired Revelation, contemplate 
the exceeding loveliness of the Celestial City 
as a material abiding place, prepared as a 
perpetual home for all the pure and the good, 
a home of ^^Many Mansions," a city of end- 
less day, illumined by a radiance of holiness 
immaculate and dazzling purity emanating 
from the Throne of God and the atoning 
Lamb, gladdened by the placid and pacific 
waters of Life's constantly flowing River. 



©eneral IRematfts 125 



But when we remember that all these are but 
a feeble comparison to the great realities of 
Heaven, that in the highest and truest sense 
Heaven is an exalted moral condition^ depend- 
ing neither on time^ nor place^ nor material 
environments^ that to be an heir of Heaven is 
to be in perfect harmony with Heaven^s 
Great King; yea, and more, to be a ^''par- 
taker of the Divine Nature^^; and ''to put 
on Christ" is to become identified with 
and initiated into the nature of God's 
own Son, who said, ''I am Alpha and 
Omega, The Beginning and the End"; 
what then shall our ideal of Heaven and its 
glories be? Where then shall language be 
found to convey an adequate conception of 
the exceeding riches of God's great '' Rec- 
ompense of Reward?" How transcendently 
glorious, how inexpressibly sublime must be 
the realities of that state of moral purity, of 
perfect holiness, of superabounding and al^ 
embracing love, to which such glorious met- 
aphors are but mute indices to point out the 
resplendent and ever==brightening way; and 



120 Zhc (Bloties of "toeaven 



of which the rare and rich allegories of the 
Sacred Oracles are but a mere prelude, or a 
faint glimmer as of an Oriental aurora, herald- 
ing the rising light of an Eternal Day! 

Hitherto we have not asked or answered 
the question, Whefr is Heaven? Nor are we 
yet prepared to do so until we shall havo' 
more fully considered the question. What is 
Heaven? Paul, the apostle, tells us that he 
^^knew a man caught up to the Third Heaven.'' 
This declaration implies the existence of a 
First, and a Second Heaven; and naturally 
gives rise to the questions, Hoiv many 
Heavens are there? and What are they? We 
cannot answer positively. But let us see 
what inferences we may reasonably draw 
from the teachings of Divine Revelation on 
this very interesting theme. In connection 
with the passage just quoted (from the 12th 
chapter of 2 Corinthians), Paul speaks of the 
Third Heaven as Paradise. And Christ 
said to the penitent thief on the Cross, ^^ To^ 
day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise'' ; but 
to Mary He said, after His resurrection, 



©enetal IRematfts 127 

'^ Touch Me not: for I have not yet ascended 
to My Father/' From these and other 
Scriptures of like import, it seems to me that 
we may justly infer that Paradise^ or the 
Third Heaven^ is the state, or condition, occu- 
pied by Christ while His body lay in the 
sepulcher — the state now occupied by mil- 
lions of disembodied saints who are waiting 
for the dawn of a glorious Resurrection 
Morn to give them victory over the power of 
death. Then it follows that since this state 
termed Paradise, which lies just beyond the 
Jordan,— just within the Land of the Immor- 
tals, — is the Third Heaven, there must be — 
somewhere — sometime within the confines of 
this mortal life, two distinct stages, or con- 
ditions, of moral status, termed respectively, 
The First, and The Second Heaven. 

Then since there are Two Heavens on 
earth to mortals given, or since mortal life 
embraces two stages of Heaven, let us con- 
sider what they are. Heaven is Innocency, 
Simplicity, Purity Immaculate and Love 
Unfeigned. If then, thou wouldst find 



\28 XCbe (Blortes of •fcea\>en 

Heaven, look first upon the little child, as it 
lies upon its mother's breast, fit emblem of 
all that is best in humanity, and say i£ this 
is not indeed the First Heaven to mortals 
given. No sin has defiled the temple made 
for the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. No 
consciousness of guilt clouds its waking 
hours, or mars its sweet dreams of peace. 
No vexing cares destroy its mirthful glee. 
No chains of evil habit bind its free and 
happy spirit. blessed state of innocence 
and love! rich inheritance of purity and 
peace! Hear what the Master saith of the 
blessedness of childhood: ^^ And Jesus called 
a little child unto Him, and set him in the 
midst of them, and said, ' Verily I say unto 
you, except ye be converted and become as 
little children, ye shall not enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven.' ^Whosoever, there- 
fore shall humble himself as this little child, 
the same is greatest in the Kingdom of 
Heaven.' ^ And whosoever shall receive 
one such little child in My Name receiveth 
Me; but whosoever shall offend one of these 



General iRematfts 129 

little ones, which believe in Me, it were bet- 
ter for him that a millstone were hanged 
about his neck, and that he were drowned in 
the depth of the sea." ^^ Take heed that ye 
despise not one of these little ones; for I say 
unto you, that in Heaven their angels do al- 
ways behold the face of My Father, who is in 
Heaven." 

But alas, how very soon the little feet 
usually forsake ^^ the tender Shepherd^s peace- 
ful fold," and wander away on '' the barren 
mountains of sin and folly"! The spotless 
purity and innocency of childhood, how evan- 
escent! The precious, balmy, morning hours 
of life, how fleeting, alas, they are! This 
Universal Heaven, this Eden of Primitive 
Purity, where in the cool of the day Divinity 
walks and communes with humanity, how 
soon, alas, is forfeited by sin and lost! But, 
'' The Son of Man came to seek and to save 
that which was lost/^ amazing love! 
matchless grace Divine! '^ God so loved the 
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in Him, should not 



130 Ube ©lories ot Ibeaven 

perish, but have Everlasting Life/' ''0 
Praise ye the Lord; for He is good: for His 
mercy endureth forever," '' And His loving^ 
kindness unto all generations." 

No sooner have the little ones forsaken the 
First Heaven, the innocency of childhood, 
than the gentle voice of the tender Shepherd, 
the compassionate and sympathizing Jesus, 
is heard calling them, and saying, " Seek ye 
the Lord, v^hile He may be found, call ye 
upon Him, while he is near." ''Remember 
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
while the evil days come not, nor the years 
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no 
pleasure in them." ''Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that 
hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, 
come buy wine and milk without money and 
without price." "For thus saith the Lord, 
ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye 
shall be redeemed without money." "In- 
cline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and 
your soul shall live; and I will make an 
everlasting covenant with you, even the sure 



©eneral IRemarfts 13X 

mercies of David." ^^ Let the wicked forsake 
his way, and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, 
and He will have mercy upon him; and to 
our God, for he will abundantly pardon.^' ^^ 
thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not 
comforted, behold, I v/ill lay thy stones with 
fair colors, and lay thy foundations with 
sapphires. In righteousness shalt thou be 
established." 




CHAPTER II 

Ube Secon& Ibeaven, or Salvation \>^ 
free (Brace 

*^ By Grace are ye savedj through faith; and that not of yourselves : 
it is the gift of God:' 

HEN through disobedience sin 
entered the world, and death 
became by sin the inevitable 
heritage of every son and 
daughter of Adam's race, then 
v^as man's fate truly a sealed book, and no 
way was apparent whereby he might escape 
the awful penalties(?) — nay, not penalties, 
but rather necessary consequences — which, 
as a natural result, grew out of his wilful 
violation of the Divine command. Man in 
his primitive state held rank but '^a little 
lower than the angels," and was ^^ crowned 
with glory and honor." He had been created 
in the image and likeness of his Maker, in 
that he was made upright in heart, and pure 

132 



XTbe SeconO t)eaven 133 

in purpose; and yet, in the exercise of that 
free moral agency with which he was endowed, 
he had fallen from that high and holy estate. 
Fallen ! Fallen ! fallen ! How sad the news 
that rang, on that fatal day, even through the 
courts of Heaven! How piteous the wail of 
grief and woe that went up from that once 
happy pair, when they began to realize the 
enormity of sin, and the awful consequences 
involved! How deep the gloom of apprehen- 
sion, how dark the night of despair that 
settled over that garden, where erst the sun 
had shone so bright, the birds had sung so 
sweet, and everything had been so merry, glad 
and gay! Man, the highest intelligence of 
Earth, having fallen, the lower orders of cre- 
ation were involved to some extent, and the 
very earth was cursed for man^s sake. 
Terrible indeed are the effects of sin! And 
awful was the dilemma into which man had 
fallen! His sun had gone down in darkness 
behind that irrevocable decree, " In the day 
that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die;^^ 
and no Star of Hope had risen on the plains 



134 Zbc Glories of 1Rea\?en 

of Bethlehem to point to the resurrection 
morn. The great sympathetic Infinite Spirit 
was grieved that Pie had made man; and He 
at once set about devising a plan for man's 
extrication and restoration. Then it was 
that in the council of Heaven was instituted 
the inquiry, "' AYho is worthy to open the book, 
and to loose the seals thereof?'' And search 
was made, it seems, in Heaven, and on earth, 
and under the earth, and yet no creature was 
found in all God's wide domains worthy to 
redeem man, or to open and look upon the 
book of his sealed and awful doom! But lo! 
Amazing Grace Divine! God's own Son, the 
second person of the adorable Trinity, takes 
upon Himself the burden of man's woe, and 
pledges His own stainlesslife, to redeem man 
from the power of sin and death! And a 
glad proclamation is issued from the Throne 
of the Omnipotent, saying, ^'Behold, the 
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of 
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and 
to loose the seals thereof." Thus v\^ere the 
gates of The Second Heaven opened. And 



Ube Secon& IHeaven 135 

the rich blessings of Salvation through Christ, 
which we as believers now enjoy, were first 
dimly revealed to our ancestors in the prom- 
ise that, The seed of the ivoman shall bruise 
the Serpenfs head. And from time to time 
was the light of hope caused to shine brighter 
and yet brighter, as the plan of human re- 
demption, devised in the Divine Council, was 
more fully revealed unto successive genera- 
tions, by prophecy, by types and shadows and 
various ceremonial rites; until, in the fulness 
of time, came the Great Antitype, the prom- 
ised Mesiah, in the person of the humble 
Babe of Bethlehem; and His mission of 
matchless love and boundless mercy was 
fulfilled, and human redemption consum- 
mated, when Christ in His dying agony said, 
" It is finished." 

But God did not take from man his free 
moral agency, or purchase for him an uncon- 
ditional salvation. He looked in pity on 
man's ruined and hopeless condition. He saw 
him struggling in the bitter waters and 
boisterous waves of the dark and fathomless 



136 TTbe ©lories of Ibeaven 

sea of sin, driven by the the winds of evil 
passions, and fettered by the chains of in- 
herited depravity, and in mercy He threv^ 
out to him the Life Line. But it rests at last 
with man to say whether he will accept sal- 
vation on God's own terms, or go down 
beneath the turbid waves to a dark perdition. 
But you ask, What are God's terms? Christ 
says, '' I am the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life: no man cometh to the Father, but by 
Me." '^He that hath My commandments, 
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: 
and he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My 
Father, and I will love him, and will manifest 
Myself to him.'' '' Him that cometh to Me, 
I will in no wise cast out." "^ I am the Bread 
of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never 
hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall 
never thirst." ^^ Wherewithal shall a young 
man cleanse his way? By taking heed 
thereto according to Thy Word." '^Keep 
thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are 
the issues of life." '' Ponder the path of thy 
feet, and let all thy ways be established." 



Ube Second Ibeaven 137 

'' Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out, when the times 
of refreshing shall come from the presence of 
the Lord/' '' If we confess our sins. He is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ^^ If 
we walk in the light, as He is in the light, 
we have fellowship one with another, and the 
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us 
from all sin." ^^ Ask, and it shall be given 
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it 
shall be opened unto you." ''He thatbeliev- 
eth and is baptized shall be saved; but he 
that believeth not shall be damned." '' Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
BORN AGAIN, he cau not see the Kingdom of 
God." ''Except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the 
Kingdom of God." "He that believeth on 
the Son of God hath the witness in himself.^^ 
"And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, 
because the Spirit is Truth.^^ " Abide in Me, 
and I in you. As the branch can not bear 
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no 



138 TTbe ©lories of Ibeaven 

more can ye, except ye abide in Me/^ '^ Be 
ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, foras- 
much as ye know that your labor is not in 
vain in the Lord/^ '' Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the 
will of My Father which is in Heaven." 
^^ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, 
ye which are spiritual, restore such a one 
in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, 
lest thou also be tempted." '^ Be not deceived; 
God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap." ''Let us 
hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 
Fear God, and keep His commandments: for 
this is the whole duty of man." '' For God 
shall bring every work into judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it be good or 
whether it be evil." 

How copious, how abundant, how com- 
plete and conclusive are the teachings of 
God's Word in regard to the way of Salva- 
tion! It is not our province to enter upon 



Ube Secont) Ibeaven 139 



controverted theological grounds; but rather 
to glean from the rich harvest fields of Di- 
vine Truth golden sheaves of instruction, 
comfort and inspiration. But in these days 
of " dead formalities," external displays, 
pompous and empty ceremonial religions, — 
if indeed v^e dare call them religions, — too 
great emphasis can not be laid on the neces- 
sity of EXPERIMENTAL AND PRACTICAL CHRIS- 



TIANITY.'' 



It is the privilege of every child of God, 
every one who has passed '^ from nature 
unto grace," to have ''The witness within 
HIMSELF." For if our religion is genuine, 
''The Spirit Itself beareth witness with 
our spirit that we are the children of God." 
Furthermore, if we are Christ's, and His 
Spirit dwelleth in us, we shall bring forth 
" the fruits of the Spirit" : Love, Joy, Peace, 
Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, 
Meekness, Temperance. And if we are wise, 
and avail ourselves of the "high privileges 
of our calling in Christ Jesus," then shall we 
attain unto that grandeur of moral status, 



140 xrbe ©lories ot fteaven 



that high vantage-ground of Christian char- 
acter, where the spirit that was in Christ, 
our Master, shall be the all-potent power, the 
ever present talisman in our lives, leading us 
yet onward and upward with constantly in- 
creasing strength through delectable fields 
elysian. 

In this, the dawn of the Twentieth Cen- 
tury, it is the high privilege, yea, the 
bounden duty of the Redeemed of the Lord 
to have their lives develop, through the ex- 
ercise of the Christian Graces, into such a 
stage of Personal Holiness and Mutual 
Helpfulness as will bring them into harmo- 
nious co-operation with the Divine Spirit, 
and thus make them efiicient workers in the 
vineyard of the Master. 




CHAPTER III 

XTbe IRfcbes of Ibis (Brace, or Blessings 
b» tbe ma^. 

RULY hath it been said, '' We 
can not go to Heaven when 
we die unless we have Heaven 
in our hearts while we live," 
And while there is no such a 
thing possible for us as being passively ^'car- 
ried to the skies on flowery beds of ease," yet 
we rejoice to know that there is for us, in the 
Gospel plan, the sublime possibility, yea, the 
glorious privilege of rising exultingly and 
triumphantly on the wings of an active faith, 
into those higher realms of Holy Living, 
where bloom the amaranthine flowers of 
Trust and Peace and Love. We need not 
dream of being ^' borne on angel's wings to 
Abraham's bosom," unless we, like Abraham, 
are children of faith — a living, active faith 
that bringeth forth fruit to the honor and 
glory of God. 



142 Ube ©lotiea of Ibeaven 

To go to Heaven is to attain to high moral 

status, to ascend from the plains of Kadesh= 
Barnea, — the valley of distrust and doubt 
and human weakness — up to Pisgah^s glory=^ 
crowned summit, far above the clouds and 
mists that darken the path of those who 
walk in the valley; up where we may bask 
in the continual sunshine of a Savior's Love; 
where, instead of looking from beneath at the 
dark side of the clouds of adversity and 
trial and persecution and bereavement that 
we once so much feared, we may look out 
upon them from above, see more of their 
silver lining than of their ominous darkness, 
see them as God sees them, look upon them 
complacently; and trustingly and confid- 
ingly sing, as sang the royal and saintly 
Psalmist of yore, "The Lord reigneth; let 
the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the 
isles be glad thereof:" sing as never lark 
sang, sing with an overflowing heart, 

" Whate'er I do, where'er I be, 
'Tis God's own Hand that leadeth me." 

But as in the " Kingdom of Nature," so in 



Ube IRicbes ot IFdIs <5race 143 

the " Kingdom of Grace," it is very easy to 
go down hill, but we cannot ascend without 
some effort; neither can we mount instantane- 
ously from the low plains of human weakness 
and imperfection, up into the realms of perfect 
faith and trust and peace and love, into that 
blessed Land of Beulah, where Light Divine 
is ever shining, where Heavenly graces are 
ever blooming, and where each passing 
zephyr brings to our ears sweet notes of 
Heaven^s melody. 

" Heaven is not reached at a single bound, 
But we build the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
And we mount to the summit round by round." 

The stately cedars on Lebanon's height, 
whose roots are firmly set in " the ancient 
rifted rock," are not the growth of a single 
day, but for many a long year they have stood 
in storm and sheen, and many wintry blasts 
have swept over their heads, and the rude 
winds beneath which they have often sub- 
missively bowed, and the hoary frosts, which 
Boreas hath showered upon them, have only 
given toughness and elasticity to their fibre. 



144 XTbe ©lories of IWeax^en 



Let this teach to our restless murmuring 
hearts a lesson of patience and trust. But 
while, like the cedars, we bow our heads that 
the storms may pass over us, we should be 
sustained by an abiding peace within: and 
such peace we may have, if only our feet are 
firmly planted on the Rock of Ages; if only 
we have ^'anchored our souls in the Haven 
of Rest." 

''The Kingdom of God is Righteousness and 
Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost." Every 
government is founded and established on 
certain principles which constitute its distinc- 
tive features, and for the promotion and per- 
petuation of which its varied functions, and 
its numerous auxiliaries and agents, are all 
designed to co-operate. No government can 
be great or good — no matter how wisely plan- 
ned or how skillfully executed its operations 
may be, or how pompous or imposing the dis- 
play it makes — unless the principles on which 
it rests, and for which it stands are sound 
and philanthropic principles — principles cal- 
culated to enhance the well-being of its sub- 



Ube IRicbes ot IHis (Brace 145 

jects. The underlying principles then are the 
real entity, the life, the soul of the institution, 
while the visible parts, its organized forces, 
are only the machinery by and through which 
its operations are performed, and are no more 
entitled to be called the government than the 
physical body is to be called the man. And 
so when the Inspired Apostle speaks of the 
Kingdom of Heaven he means the grand 
fundamental principles of the Gospel of 
Christ, to establish which the Incarnate Son 
of God laid down His life, and for the pro- 
mulgation and promotion of which the 
Church exists. 

Let us consider, now, what these principles 
are. Righteousness and Peace and Joy in 
the Holy Ghost. Certainly never was king- 
dom or empire founded on grander or more 
noble principles. Certainly no more worthy 
cause ever engaged the mind or enlisted the 
sympathy and co-operation of any created in- 
telligence. My brother, my sister, are we loyal 
members of this great Kingdom, heirs of God 
and joint'heirs with His Son Jesus Christ? 



140 Ube ©lories oi fceaven 

If so, then must our lives be living exempli- 
fications of the principles of which His King- 
dom is the embodiment. Righteousness. 
What is it? It implies, not only Tightness 
of state or condition, justification, reconcilia- 
tion, pardon for past offences; but also Tight- 
ness of aim, purpose, aspiration; in short, 
purity of hearty harmony icith God, a thor- 
oughly renewed condition of the moral nature. 
Are our desires, our aspriations good? Are 
the words of our mouths and the meditations 
of our hearts acceptable in the sight of God? 
If so, then are we indeed children of God. 
And who can fathom the blessedness of that 
relationship ? But if on the other hand we 
find in our hearts a desire for that which is 
not acceptable unto God, if our highest aspir- 
ations are for the vain and evanescent things 
of this present life, or if we give place to 
malice, envy or ill will, then we may be sure 
that we have '^ moral heart-disease,^^ and need to 
go at once to the Great Physician for His heal- 
ing, cleansing and renewing power. Have you, 
Dear Reader, been to Jesus for His cleansing 



Ube IRicbes ot Ibis ©race 147 

power? ''Are you washed in the blood of the 
Lamb?" If not, why not? (The fountain 
is free, and the invitation is urgent.) If so, 
are you keeping yourself ''unspotted from the 
world ? " Are you having a continual feast of 
spiritual gladness and sweet communion with 
the Blessed Master? Does He sup with you, 
and you with Him? Are you on the King's 
Highway of Holiness? Are you counting 
all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ? Are you going on 
^''from conquering to conquest and from victory 
unto FULL SALVATION? '' Have you within that 
fountain of Living waters, of which Christ 
spake to the woman of Samaria, " a well of 
water springing up unto Everlasting Life?'' 
Can you say, with perfect assurance, " Jesus 
is Mine, and I am His?" Are you taking 
higher grounds in the Divine Life? Is your 
path growing brighter day by day? These 
are our blessed privileges through "Christ, 
who giveth us all things richly to enjoy." 
Take courage then, my brother; look up then 
my sister; and praise His Holy Name for the 



148 Ube ©lories ot Ibeaven 

blessed assurance, that '' The path of the just 
is as the shining light, that shineth more and 
more unto the perfect day." ^^ Arise put on 
thy beautiful garments." He saith unto thee, 
'' Come up Higher." 

But ''The Kingdom of God is Peace." 
" Peace that passeth understanding." '' Peace 
that floweth as a river." But how floweth 
a river? Its origin is not usually in the shin- 
ing valleys, but up among the rugged moun- 
tain crags, amid rough boulders, in the dis- 
mal shade of the deep dense forest. There 
rises the river, at first only a tiny stream, and 
merrily it sings, as it surmounts and over- 
leaps the numerous obstacles that lie in its 
course. It pauses not, nor tarries, but gladly, 
constantly, onward it moves; and ever and 
anon as it glides along, come unheralded af- 
fluents from either side pouring in to aug- 
ment its volume, to increase its power and 
importance, until at length its channel grows 
broad and deep, its surface becomes calm 
and smooth, and in sublime and majestic 
grandeur its mighty expanse of waters move 



Xtbe IRicbes ot Dfs ©race 149 



along, an irresistible, imperturbable power- 
Such is the flow of that sweet Peace that 
comes to every loyal trusting Son and Daugh- 
ter of the Great King. Have you this 
Blessed Peace ? If not, then you are letting 
Satan, or some one else, cheat you out of 
your rightful heritage : for Christ hath said, 
'' Peace I leave with you. My Peace I give 
unto you." '^ In the world ye shall have trib- 
ulation, but he of good cheer: I have over- 
come the world." 

But, ''The Kingdom op God is Joy in the 
Holy Ghost." You ask, What is that Joy, 
and how may I know whether or not I possess 
it? Ask yourself these questions: Where 
do I seek for and find my highest pleasure, my 
most perfect enjoyment? At the social club, 
or at the prayer^^meeting ? At the theater, or 
at the House of God? When success attends 
your path, when prosperity crowns your 
efforts, when laurels rest upon your brow, how 
then do you account for your propitious sur- 
roundings, or to whom do you give the credit? 
Do you say in your heart, My hand hath gotten 



150 XTbe Oloties ot Ibeaven 

this wealth, My cunning and my skill have 
achieved this success? Or do you say, ''God 
giveth the increase;" These blessings come 
from His hand; and to Him shall the voice 
of my thanksgiving ascend? When the days 
grow dark and dreary, when you feel sad and 
lonely, when business is not prosperous, when 
your best efforts to achieve success in your 
vocation have proved abortive, when your 
best aimed endeavors have been misunder- 
stood, or misrepresented by your fellow men, 
when your friends have proved false and 
fickle, where then do you seek comfort and 
respite from care? To whom do you appeal 
with your burden of grief? Do you seek re- 
lief in the associations of the gay, the thought- 
less, the mirthful, the worldly-minded? Or 
do you go to God for sympathy, for comfort, 
for aid, for strength, for Divine guidance, for 
Heavenly Grace? Apply these tests to your 
life, and you may readily know of what 
manner of spirit you are possessed. 

If you are not fully satisfied in regard to your 
standing, in the sight of God, after a thorough 



Ube IRicbes ot Ibia ©race 151 



and candid self-examination, take the ques- 
tion to the Lord in earnest, contrite prayer, 
and, in childlike simplicity and confidence, 
ask him to show you clearly the ground you 
occupy, and to remove the clouds of uncer- 
tainty and doubt that obscure your moral 
sky; and then and there a flood of spiritual 
light will break in upon your soul — like the 
sun emerging from behind a thick cloud — a 
sweet, indescribable Peace and Joy will 
reign within, and with Job you can exclaim, 
^'I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth." But 
you ask. Is it important that I should know 
these things? Do you consider it important 
to you to know whether the title you hold to 
your earthly home is valid or not? How 
much more important then should you con- 
sider your title to Eternal Life and a Heav- 
enly Inheritance? If you really have "within 
you^' ''The Kingdom of God," — Righteous- 
ness AND Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost, 
— then, whatever may be your environments 
or your circumstances in life, no ill can be- 
tide you, no evil can befall you. '' The bank 



152 Zbc Glories of 1beav>en 

may break, the factory burn," or the earth 
may open a yawning chasm and swallow up 
your earthly possessions, but what matters it? 
Nothing. If you are really a child of God, 
an heir of Heaven, and a joint-heir with 
Jesus Christ, His Son, then, with Job, you 
can triumphantly and joyfully say, ^' The 
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; 

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LoRD!" ''The 

earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." 
Yea, and the countless shining orbs that glit- 
ter on the celestial conclave, that illumine 
the boundless immensity of space, and that 
give life and light and fertility to myriads of 
attendant worlds, all, all these are His; for 
He hath made them. How abundantly able, 
then, is He to ''give good things to them 
that ask Him!" And He is not only abun- 
dantly able, but abundantly willing. In His 
Word it is written, " Delight thyself in the 
Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of 
thine heart." " And He shall bring forth thy 
righteousness as the light, and thy judgment 
as the noonday." The Lord will give Grace 



Zbc IRicbes of Ibts ©race 153 

and Glory; no good thing will He withhold 
from them that walk uprightly." The 
Psalmist says, '^I have seen the wicked in 
great power, and spreading himself like a 
green bay-tree. Yet he passed away, and 
lo, he was not: yea, I sought him but he 
could not be found." How sad, and yet how 
common are such scenes! But how striking 
the picture that rises on this dark back- 
ground, when he says, ^^Mark the perfect 
man, and behold the upright: for the end of 
that man is Peace." 




CHAPTER IV 

Sanctification, or Iboltness ot Ibeart 

HAT the doctrine of Entire 
Sanctification, or Sinless Per- 
fection, should have been the 
occasion of so much dissen- 
sion and controversy among 
professed Christians seems strange indeed 
when we consider how clear and explicit are 
the teachings of the Sacred Scriptures in 
regard to this important part of the Divine 
Plan of human redemption. 

But the real grounds of the difficulty — the 
stone of stumbling, so to speak — lies, it seems 
to me, in the fact, that the true nature of the 
doctrine has been mystified and veiled in ob- 
scurity by the false claims of fanatics, who 
assert the possibility of attaining, in this life, 
a state of moral perfection in which it be- 
comes impossible for them to sin; — a doctrine 
clearly at variance with both reason and 

164 



Sanctificatfon 155 



Revelation: for God could not possibly take 
from man his right of choice, his Free Moral 
Agency, without doing violence to his very 
nature as an accountable being. And no- 
where in His Word has He promised to do 
any such thing. — But what has He promised ? 
In the very name Jesus we have the promise, 
^' He shall save His people from their sins." 
It is the nature of sin to defile, to contami- 
nate, to tarnish, to pollute; and consequently 
the fact of man's fall in Eden entailed on 
him and all his posterity, not only the Divine 
displeasure, but also moral degeneracy, actual 
depravity and uncleanness; insomuch that '' It 
came to pass, when men began to multiply on 
the face of the earth, that God saw that the 
wickedness of man was great in the earth, 
and that every imagination, purpose, and de- 
sire of the thoughts of his heart were only 
evil continually." Hence it became a matter 
of actual necessity that, if man were to be 
redeemed, and to become worthy to dwell in 
the purity of Heaven, in the presence of God 
and the angels of light, the plan of his res- 



150 Ube (Blories of IReaven 

toration must embrace something more than 
mere pardon, something more than justi- 
fication and remission of sins through 
the vicarious suffering of a Mediator. It 
must embrace a thorough cleansing and 
renewal of the moral nature. And there can 
be no doubt of the fact that the plan of salva- 
tion, as devised in the Divine Council of 
Heaven and executed and revealed by the 
Incarnate Son of God — who in the fulfillment 
of His purpose of Infinite Love laid down 
His own life that we through Him might live 
— was a perfect plan, a plan fully meeting the 
needs of the foulest of our fallen race. Yet 
there exists abundant evidence of the fact 
that pardon, or justification in the sight of 
God, is not always accompanied by a thorough 
renewal of the moral nature. The Apostle 
Paul, who was certainly in a justified rela- 
tion to God, said, '' When I would do good, 
evil is present with me." ^'I delight in the 
Law of God after the inward man: but I see 
another law in my members warring against 
the law of my mind, and bringing me into 



Sanctificatfon 157 



captivity to the law of sin which is in my 
members:" And then, in deep contrition on 
account of the consciousness of indwelling 
sin, he exclaims, ''0, wretched man that I 
am ! who shall deliver me from the body of 
this death?" And is not the testimony of 
Paul fully corroborated by our own personal 
experience? Most Christians, at least, know 
for themselves that after they have been par- 
doned and have received the Witness of the 
Spirit, testifying of their acceptance with 
God, they still have found within themselves 
unholy desires and inclinations — desires 
which, if gratified and encouraged, would 
lead them away from Christ and into con- 
demnation. And this fact is evidence (prima 
facie) of the need of a deeper work of Grace 
in the heart, a more thorough renewal of the 
moral nature. But where, or how shall we 
obtain that perfect purity, that ^'Holiness 
without which no man can see the Lord ? " 
It may be found only at the "Fountain 
opened to the house of David, and the in- 
habitants of Jerusalem, for sin, and for un- 



158 Ube ©lories of Ifteaven 

cleanness.'' God's plan is not a failure. 
Christ's atonement is not partial. He did 
not redeem us from under the penalty of a 
violated law and leave us to be servants to 
sin. But He demands of us that we present 
our '' bodies a living sacrifice^ Holy, accept- 
able unto God;" and assures us that '^He 
is able to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to 
make intercession for them." To '^save to the 
uttermost " He certainly must of necessity first 
cleanse the fountain of our desires and affec- 
tions, and then shall the waters flowing there- 
from be pure and sweet and that continually. 
His ability to save to the uttermost is asserted 
as a consequence of the fact that ^' He ever 
liveth to make intercession for us; and no- 
where has He promised us any safety except 
as we " abide in Him." Such is the nature 
of the defilement of sin that we can have in- 
demnity therefrom only so long as we are in 
direct and vital connection with Christ, only 
so long as we preserve unbroken the current 
of communication between our hearts and 



y 



Sanctiflcation 159 



that great Fountain=head of Personal Pu- 
rity. It is thus that we are to be '' Kept by 
the Power of God through Faith unto Salva- 
tion." It is thus that we are, in His Name, 
in His Strength, in the Power of His Might, 
to "^ Go on from conquering unto conquest, 
and from victory unto full Salvation," until, 
at last, in Him we shall stand '^ Perfect and 
Entire, wanting nothing, and '' Be filled with 
all the Fulness of God." It is thus and only 
thus that we are to be ^' wholly " or entirely 
'' sanctified,^' and that our whole '' spirit and 
soul and body''' are to be ''' preserved blame- 
less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ.'' " Therefore leaving the principles 
of the doctrine of Christ" — that is, the initia- 
tive or beginning principles — ^' let us go on 
unto Perfection." When we, through the 
pardon and remission of our sins, are born 
into the Kingdom of Grace, and are thereby 
become the children of God, then are we rep- 
resented as '^ babes " needing to be fed with 
the " sincere milk " of the Gospel. But the 
grace given unto us at regeneration is not 



100 tCbe ©lories of Ibeaven 



designed to be a waning or residual quan- 
tity, nor yet an invariable quantity; for we 
are exhorted to ^^ Grow in Grace." But how 
are we to grow? With all diligence we are 
to ^^ Add to our Faith, Virtue; and to Virtue, 
Knowledge; and to Knowledge, Temper- 
ance; and to Temperance, Patience; and to 
Patience, Godliness; and to Godliness, 
Brotherly Kindness; and to Brotherly Kind- 
ness, Charity. What a grand and glorious 
array of Christian Graces are these! Mag- 
nificent Stepping-stones whereby the lowli- 
est and most insignificant of God's dear 
children may ascend from the humble walks 
of earthly life, to a most glorious Immortal- 
ity, a state of Immaculate Purity, and a 
Home with the Glorified Immortals! How 
grandly and how clearly defined, and yet 
how very natural and simple is the ascent! 
Any one can reach the first round of this 
ladder. It begins right down at the earth. 
The first step is Faith — that simple trust and 
confidence in God's Precious Promises which 
leads to Repentance and the acceptance of 



Sanctificatfon 161 



proffered Mercy and Pardon. Having at- 
tained unto this first of the Heavenly Graces 
and its legitimate results, we are then to add 
thereto, Virtue, or the courage of moral 
manhood, courage to come out boldly on the 
Lord's side, and acknowledge Him before 
men. This done we are then to set about 
getting knowledge — knowledge of God's 
Word and of His will concerning us; that we 
may be able to give an answer to him that 
asketh us concerning the hope that is within 
us. 

And having attained unto knowledge of 
the Way of Salvation, we are to add thereto 
Temperance, or moderation in all things — 
doing everything with an eye single to God's 
glory. And to Temperance, or moderation, 
we are to add Patience — a willingness ^^to 
labor and to wait,^^ leaving results with God. 
And to Patience we are to add Godliness, or 
Piety, — a spirit of devout and humble wor- 
ship and of gratitude to God for all His rich 
gifts. And to Godliness, or Piety, we are to 
add Brotherly Kindness, or a spirit of help- 



162 Zbc Glories of Ibeaven 

fulness to our fellow men, remembering that 
Christ, our great Judge, will say, ^^ Inasmuch 
as ye did it unto one of the least of these My 
brethren, ye did it unto Me." And finally, 
to Brotherly Kindness we are to add Charity, 
that Crown Jewel of all the Christian Graces 
— that broad and deep and magnanimous 
and all-embracing spirit of Love that 
^^ Thinketh no evil," but placeth on the ac- 
tions and the motives of a brother the most 
favorable construction possible. Thus it is 
that we are to grow up into the spirit and 
likeness of Christ, our Living Head. Not in 
our own name or in our own strength are we 
to go forth to battle against the powers of 
evil, but in the name of Christ our risen 
Lord. '' Not by might, nor by power, but by 
My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." '' Fi- 
nally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of His might." ^' Put on 
the whole armor of God, that ye may be able 
to stand against the wiles of the devil." 
^' Stand therefore, having your loins girt 
about with Truth, and having on the breast- 



Sancttfication 163 



plate of Righteousness, and your feet shod 
with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace." 
''Above all, taking the shield of Faith, 
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the 
fiery darts of the wicked." ''And take the 
helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the 
Spirit, which is the Word op God." "Pray- 
ing always with all prayer and supplication 
in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all 
perseverance and supplication for all saints." 
^' And be not drunk with wine wherein is ex- 
cess, but he filled tvith the Spirit; speak- 
ing to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and 
spiritual songs, singing and making melody 
in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks 
always f 07' all things unto God." "And be 
ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- 
giving one another, even as God for Christ's 
sake hath forgiven you." 

Christian Perfection, or the state of Entire 
Sanctification, is not reached by a negative 
or subtracting process whereby we become 
dispossessed of our free will so that we could 
not sin if we chose to do so. Such an idea is 



164 XCbe ©lories ot Ibeaven 



absurd, preposterous. Even Christ could have 
yielded to Satan, and have commanded the 
stones to be made bread; and shall we pro- 
fess to be more holy than He? God forbid 
that we should hazard such presumption! 
'^It is enough that the servant be as his 
master." 

But those sublime heights of moral gran- 
deur and excellence and true magnanimity of 
soul are attainable only by a positive process 
of addition and spiritual growth and amelior- 
ation; whereby they that strive ^' to be strength- 
ened with might by His Spirit in the inner 
man," ^^ Go from strength to strength, every 
one of them in Zion appeareth before God," 
and ''with open face beholding, as in a glass, 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
SRme imdige fro7n glory to glory, even as by 
the Spirit of the Lord." Changed into the 
image of the Lord! glorious, wondrous 
change! blessed transformation! God 
grant that, even now, it may be richly 
wrought in all our hearts ! Great and glori- 
ous as is the change wrought in man's moral 



Sancttfication 165 



nature by communion with the Divine Nature, 
and through the agency of the Holy Spirit, 
yet that change is wrought on principles 
strictly in accordance with natural law. It is 
a well established fact of physical science that 
any material organism — for instance, the hu- 
man body — may be, and often is, materially 
affected and modified in its nature by the 
character of the substances on which it sub- 
sists and from which it must, by assimilation, 
derive its support, and the material for its 
growth and development. Why marvel then 
that the Inner Man, or Spiritual nature, should 
take on, in a measure, the distinctive charac- 
teristics of the food on which the mind sub- 
sists, and that those traits of character, and 
those principles of conduct with which we 
allow ourselves to become most familiar, and 
especially those around which we allow our 
affections to hover in sympathy or in admira- 
tion, should gradually enter into the very 
warp and woof of our being, and become in- 
tegral parts of our own distinct personality? 
The words ''from glory to glory" seem to 



lee XTbe ©lories ot Ibeaven 

indicate that the change to be wrought in us 
is to be gradual. And this, too, is in keep- 
ing with natural law. There is a good deal 
of truth in the saying of the renowned Pro- 
fessor Holbrook that ^' All true growth, and 
all great growth, is necessarily sloiv growth," 
And while we would not limit the power of 
God, by saying that this principle necessarily 
holds true in the realm of Spiritual growth; 
yet we may safely say that even here the 
same law generally prevails. Nevertheless 
God may, in answer to importunate prayer, 
or on account of some special consecration or 
some mighty exercise of faith on our part, 
actually work in us a sudden and mighty in- 
crease of spiritual strength, of moral power, 
in so much that we shall be led to think — 
and perhaps correctly too — that we have ex- 
perienced a Second Change of Heart as dis- 
tinct as that of Justification, or pardon; and 
we may, for the time being, believe that the 
work of cleansing, or moral renovation, in 
our hearts is complete, but we shall learn, by 
and by, from experience, that God never 



Sanctification 107 



gives us, at one time, so much Divine strength, 
so rich a blessing of Heavenly Grace, but 
that He has yet more in reserve for us; and 
that, even in this life, we may go on con- 
tinually, "from strength unto strength," and 
"from glory unto glory." And this very fact 
of the illimitable nature of Divine Growth is 
one of the exceedingly grand and glorious 
characteristics of Spiritual Life; and will, no 
doubt, constitute, in a large measure, the 
Glory of the life beyond. It is also sugges- 
tive of another important fact, viz., that we 
can not long stand still on the great battle- 
field of life; we must either advance, or re- 
treat — must make some progress, or else we 
shall retrograde through inactivity. In con- 
clusion let us state the doctrine of Entire 
Sanctification so definitely as to leave no 
possibility of being misunderstood. You ask, 
will God in answer to prayer instantaneously 
cleanse me from all sin, and thoroughly re- 
new my moral nature, so that there shall be 
found therein no unholy desires? And we 
answer. Yes. In a present sense, " All things 



108 Ube Glories of 1beav>en 

are possible to him that believeth." But you 
ask, AYill He not remove evil so far from me, 
that I shall be out of danger? No; most 
emphatically no! and for reasons already 
explained. Paul asked that the ^' thorn in 
the flesh'' might be removed; but the answer 
came, ''My Grace is sufficient for thee;" we 
must ask day by day, and hour by hour, to be 
'^ Kept by the Power of God." But does not 
instantaneous cleansing preclude the necessity 
and remove the possibility of a '' Growth in 
Grace?" Nay, verily; it only prepares the 
way for a constant and rapid Spiritual growth. 
You need not be afraid of becoming such a 
'' spiritual giant," that there will be no more 
room left you for growth. Goodness is one 
of the attributes of God, and hence is Infinite 
in nature. 



CHAPTER V 




Emmanuel— (BoD Mitb ms— or Ube 3BIe65e5* 
ness ot XTbe H)iv>ine presence 

HILE our fore-parents kept 
inviolate the precepts of the 
Lord and dwelt in Primitive 
Purity in the beautiful Gar- 
den of Eden, they v^ere free 
from the intrusion of fear or the invasion of 
sorrow or pain. In that sequestered and 
peaceful dale, under skies that ever smiled, 
beneath waving boughs laden with luscious, 
spontaneous fruits, beside placid rivers 
clear as crystal, walked and lived and loved 
that happy pair. And there, no doubt, they 
raised their tuneful voices in anthems clear 
and sweet, and with the happy birds that 
flitted among the verdant bowers, sang the 
praises of their Creator. And they sang not 
as to a God whom they recognized as exist- 
ing somewhere far atvay: for God Himself, 

169 



170 XTbe ©lories of t)ea\>en 



even the Infinite and Eternal One, deigned 
to come and walk and commune with them. 
And they looked not for His coming with fear 
and trembling, but awaited His daily visi- 
tations with eager delight, as one awaits the 
coming of a very dear friend; for to them 
His presence meant Sunshine and Gladness 
and '' Fullness of Joy." 

But after the terrible demon Sin came and 
laid his foul hand on that once happy pair, to 
pollute and defile, and stole from manhood's 
brow the crown of Spotless Purity which God 
had placed there to mark them as His Own, 
how different, alas how very different became 
their condition! They no longer hailed with 
gladness the coming of their Creator nor re- 
joiced at the knowledge of His presence, but 
a mantle of shame covered them, and the 
consciousness of guilt filled them with terror, 
and they sought to hide away from Him 
among the dense foliage of the trees. Since 
that dark and doleful day man has been, by 
nature, an outcast, an exile, an alien, an im- 
penitent and hopeless prodigal. 



Emanuel— <5o& Wiitb me 171 



But coupled with the gracious promise of 
redemption from under the curse of sin stands 
the scarcely less important promise of the 
return of the Divine Presence, the restoration 
of the Divine Image, and the re-establish- 
ment of the severed chain of intimate com- 
munion between God and man. 

And God spake through His servant Moses 
to the faithful in Israel saying, '' The Eternal 
God is thy refuge, and underneath are The 
Everlasting Arms." Where in all the repos- 
itories of human language, rich and replete 
with metaphors, figures and similitudes, can 
there be found a more beautiful representa- 
tion of protection, of tender care, of love and 
sympathy than that of a fond mother folding 
her babe in her arms ? And what more per- 
fect security, what higher state of happiness 
can mortal man conceive or desire than to be 
thus folded in the Everlasting Arms of God's 
Infinite Love? (0 how little we usually see 
of the beauty and sublime grandeur, and how 
lightly we appreciate the real w^orth of these 
^^ Exceeding Great and Precious Promises " ! 



172 XTbe Gloriea of Ibeaven 



How frequently and how fervently we need 
to pray the prayer of the Psalmist: '^Open 
Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous 
things out of Thy Law.") God spake to 
Joshua, and through him to all His children 
of every age and clime, saying, '' Be strong 
and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither 
be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is 
with thee ivhither soever thou goestJ^ fear- 
ful heart, doubting spirit, what more per- 
fect assurance dost thou desire? And does 
not God's Word abound in promises like 
these? God has been pleased in all ages 
past to reveal to His devout and faithful 
children the blessed fact of His abiding 
presence, as a gracious friend full of all 
tenderness, compassion, sympathy and love, 
and as a sure Rock of Refuge in every time 
of need. When He brought His people out 
of Egyptian bondage. He went before them 
by day as a Pillar of Cloud, — typical of His 
overshadowing love and mercy, — and by 
night, as a Pillar of Fire, He stood in the rear, 
to protect them from their enemies. And 



]6manuel— (Boo Mitb ms 173 

again was His glorious presence revealed in 
the Sacred Shecbinah, or Visible Majesty of 
God, a gentle light of unearthly glory and 
beauty, a light of Holiness and Love Divine, 
v^hich rested between the cherubim of the 
Tabernacle. And at other times He mani- 
fested Himself by fire which came down from 
Heaven and consumed the sacrifices upon 
the altar. Even now, by imagination, me- 
thinks I hear in the Courts of the Lord, the 
voice of song and gladness; it is the voice of 
David, the '' Sweet Singer of Israel." The 
joy of his heart breaks forth in the melody 
of song. A glad thrill of animation trembles 
in his voice and vibrates in the strings of his 
harp. His theme is ''The Divine Ubiquity," 
his song, '' If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou 

ART THERE." '' If I TAKE THE WINGS OP THE 
MORNING, AND DWELL IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS 
OF THE SEA; EVEN THERE SHALL ThY HaND LEAD 

ME, AND Thy Right Hand shall hold me." 
blessed assurance that we may thus have 
God's presence ever with us, and His Unseen 
and All Powerful Hand to lead us '' ^vhither- 



174 Ube (Bloties of IHeaven 



soever we go^\f What richer provision for 
happiness could mortal man desire? Need 
we then ask the question, "What is Heaven? 
or Where is Heaven ? I think not. To be 
in perfect harnony with God, to realize that 
Jesus is Mine and I Am His, and that He 
saves me even noiv from the power of sin; 
to know that '' With Jesus My Savior, I am a 
cmLD OF THE KiNG " — the Great King of 
Heaven — is certainly, of itself. Heaven on 
Earth begun; yea, and it would be Heaven 
anywhere in the boundless universe. And 
what matters it to us whether Heaven, the 
state of Future Blessedness ^^ reserved" for 
all the finally faithful, be in reality a city 
having Jasper walls and Gates of Pearl 
and Streets of Purest Gold, where the re- 
embodied spirits of saints dwell with their 
risen and enthroned Lord bearing yet in His 
body the marks of the price He paid for the 
ransom of His fallen and unworthy children ; 
or whether all these beautiful expressions 
are only typical of the sublime spiritual and 
moral glory that await us, when we shall 



)6manttel-60& Mitb ms 175 



have entered more fully into the rich blessed- 
ness of Perfect Harmony with the Divine 
Nature? These things we do not know, nor 
need we care. It is vain for us to speculate 
as to the locality of the final abode of the 
Redeemed — if indeed it may be considered 
as a locality. — Whether we shall fly away to 
some remote part of the universe, or whether 
this very earth, renewed by fire and purged 
from the curse of sin, shall become our 
Immortal Home, concerns us not. Enough 
it is for us to know that God will be with us, 
and that ''"We shall be like Him;" that His 
Glorious Image, lost by sin, shall be restored 
by Grace Divine. But this we do know, that 
the Glory and Blessedness of Heaven is, and 
will be, due to the revealed Presence of the 
Divine Spirit of Infinite Love, and to the 
Perfect Holiness, the Spotless Purity of those 
who dwell there. True God is, in a certain 
sense, present everywhere, but it is the rev- 
elation of His presence. His genial life- 
giving smile of approbation, the '^ Witness 
of the Spirit," that brings the sunshine of 



\76 Ube (Blories ot Ibeaven 

Heaven into our hearts even now, makes the 
religion of the Bible a religion of positive 
experimental knowledge, and renders Heaven 
a vital reality of the Living Present. Be 
not deceived. My Dear Brother, or Sister, if 
you have not within you this experimental 
knowledge of God's abiding presence, which 
is termed in Scripture the ^^ Witness of the 
Spirit," you are living beneath your privilege 
as a Christian. 

'^ To him who in the love of nature holds 
communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
a varied language." And the different 
attributes of the Divine Nature are re- 
vealed by different manifestations. ^^ The 
Heavens declare the glory of God^ and the 
firmament showeth His handmorkJ^ And 
we may read something of His poiver and 
greatness in the whirlwind's wrath, and the 
earthquake's shock, or in the forked light- 
nings that play athwart the sky, or rend the 
giant oak. All these sublime and terrible 
demonstrations generally fill the mind of the 
beholder with awe and veneration. And to 



]Emanuel~(Bo& Mitb VXs 177 



him who has not lost all susceptibility of re- 
ceiving impressions from Nature's milder 
teachings, she speaks in a language none the 
less clear and distinct of God's Gentlenesss, 
Goodness, Mercy and Love. The sunshine 
warm and tender, the waving boughs decked 
in verdant or variegated foliage, or laden with 
luscious fruits, the opening flowers charming 
the eye with their brilliant colors, and filling 
the air with their rich odors, all these things, 
yea, and many more, testify in unmistakable 
language of the exceeding amiableness of the 
Divine Nature, of God's great magnanimity, 
and of His matchless loving^kindness toward 
the sons of men. And yet, lest their teaching 
be not understood. He has revealed Himself 
to us in His Holy Word; and farther still to 
make a personal application of the lessons 
taught, and to put us continually in remem- 
brance, has sent into each believing, trusting 
heart the Blessed Witness, the Holy Spirit, 
that we may know for ourselves, not only that 
He is a God of Mercy and Love, but that we 
are His, that we have been redeemed and 



178 XTbe ©lories of Ibeaven 



bought with the price of His own precious 
blood. The importance of the influence 
wielded over the human mind by the prompt- 
ings and the gentle wooings of this Minister- 
ing Angel of Mercy, the Third Person of the 
Adorable Trinity, can scarcely be conceived 
aright. Argument, though backed by demon- 
strations seemingly the most incontrovertible, 
may yet fail of bringing settled conviction 
and satisfactory conclusions to the mind of 
man when inquiring after important truth; 
and incredulity under such circumstances is 
not always blameworthy: for, at the present 
age, so plausible and so apparently unanswer- 
able are many of the sophistries and argu- 
ments in support of false theories, that it 
seems unsafe to trust alone to human reason 
in settling some of the most vital questions 
that confront us. Since "' The children of this 
world are wiser than the children of light,'' 
and since we have been warned that the 
spirit of antichrist which is abroad in the land 
'^ shall deceive, if possible, the very elect," 
it certainly behooves us to take heed what 



lEmanuel— (Boo mub ms 179 

we believe, to take our doubts and misgivings 
to God in earnest prayer, and to ask that the 
promised '' Comforter," '' The Holy Ghost," 
'' The Divine Spirit," speaking to our hearts 
as " A Still Small Voice," shall guide us into 
all Truth;— for ^^The Spirit itself is Truth." 
But how prone, alas, are we, even at our best 
estate, to forget the Source whence cometh 
our strength, to wander away from our High 
Tower and Rock of Refuge, to tremble and 
cower before human adversaries, as though 
man were able to pluck us out of the hand of 
Him in whom we trust. Shame! Shame! 
What base poltroons are we! No wonder the 
compassionate Son of God, the sympathiz- 
ing Jesus, wept over the ^^ little faith" of 
humanity. And no wonder, when His little 
band of followers were gathered on seques- 
tered Olivet^s halcyon brow to witness His 
ascension to the Father, that He, after giving 
to them the great commission of evangelizing 
the world, should leave to them as His last 
great legacy the exceedingly rich and com- 
forting assurance, '' Lo, I am with you alway. 



180 tlbe Glories ot Ibeaven 

EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.'' '' And," 

said He, ^' behold, I send the promise of My 
Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of 
Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power 
from on high." ''And He lifted up His 
hands and blessed them." And ''While 
they beheld. He was taken up; and a cloud 
received Him out of their sight." 

Seeing that Christ, our risen Lord, is as- 
cended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right 
hand of the Father, how then, you ask, is 
fulfilled the promise of His abiding presence? 
Christ repeatedly afi&rmed that He and the 
Father are One. And again we are told that 
^' There are three that bear record in Heaven, 
The Father, The Word, and The Holy Ghost: 
and these three are One." Hence we see 
that The Spirit of Truth which beareth 
witness with our spirit, and which is sent 
from The Father as a messenger of Comfort 
and Grace, is truly a Divine Being, and 
One with The Father and The Son. But 
that you say is involved in mystery! Yes, 
"Great is the mystery of godliness!" but 



Bmanuel— 6o& Mitb VXe 181 

it is a blessed and glorious mystery. 

How close, how wondrously close and 
intimate the relationship existing between 
the Divine Redeemer and His Ransomed 
Sons and Daughters! And how inspiring 
the thought that as Children of God, and, 
through the Riches of His Grace, heirs of a 
glorious Immortality, we may maintain a 
constant communion, yea, a blessed fellow- 
ship, with the Eternal and Infinite Father, 
at whose word of command all the shining 
orbs of the boundless universe move on in 
grandeur majestic and sublime, and who 
nevertheless condescends, tor man^s pleasure, 
to make the modest violet grow! And how 
transcendently glorious the blessed fact that 
we may not only hold intimate communion 
with the Eternal and Infinite One, but may, 
by means of such communion, become daily 
and continually more and more like Him in 
the varied attributes of His Goodness, Great- 
ness and Glory! who can fathom the 
wondrous depths of the condescension of 
Divinity, or measure the sublime heights to 



182 Zbc ©lories ot 1bea\?en 

which humanity may by God's grace ascend! 
Or who can fully conceive the extent of the 
felicity that mortal man may attain through 
the medium of a consecrated, devout and 
loyal spirit striving ever to grow into perfect 
harmony and unison with the Divine Mind! 




CHAPTER VI 

Ube migber %iU 3Bei?on& 

HE Immaculate Son of God 
left the Glory Land with all 
the Infinite Loveliness and 
Dazzling Beauty and Glory 
Sublime that surround the 
Great White Throne, where the serene light 
of Holiness and Love never grows dim, the 
harmonious anthems of Joy and Peace never 
cease, and where the bloom of Life's Fair 
Tree never fades; and came down to earth to 
suffer and die, that man through His death 
might inherit life, and become with Him a 
partaker of the glory which He had with the 
Father before the world was. And the 
language of mortals is far too feeble to ex- 
press the richness, the fulness, the blessed- 
ness of the life that comes to man, even here^ 
when he unreservedly accepts God's free gift 
of liberty from the dominion of sin, becomes 

183 



184 Xtbe Olortes ot lHea\>en 

— by adoption and free grace— a member of 
the household of faith, and starts on his up- 
ward career toward the sublime heights that 
lume up on his moral horizon; for he can see 
from the beginning that Life's Shining Way 
leads continually onward and upward. And 
as he advances step by step along the King's 
Highway of Holiness, and as he journeys day 
by day up the hill of Christian Progress to- 
ward the ^'Celestial City," he finds the path 
growing brighter continually. The attrac- 
tions of that great central luminary, the ^^ Sun 
of Righteousness," toward which he is mov- 
ing, like the centripetal force in the natural 
world, increases as the distance decreases; 
while, on the other hand, the follies and the 
vain allurements of earth, as he recedes from 
them, gradually lose their power over him 
and fade from his view, in like manner as 
earth seems to recede from one who goes up 
in a balloon, or the shore from him who goes 
out on the ocean. And thus it is that man 
'^ Grows in Grace," grows ''Strong in the 
Lord and in the power of His might." And 



XEbe Digber Xite 3Bel^on^ 185 



thus it is that as we draw nigh unto God, He 
— both seemingly and in reality — draws nigh 
unto us. But here our comparisons fail 
utterly, and material similitudes can carry 
us no farther; for all earthly things, however 
vast, have limitations — a beginning and an 
ending — whereas the career of the child of 
God is an Infinite career, and knows no 
bounds, save in Him who is Alpha and 
Omega, the very personification and embodi- 
ment of Infinity. 

That which we call death is but a passage 
through the portals that connect the imper- 
fect and rudimentary stage of man's existence 
with the higher and nobler and more compre- 
hensive stage in which he shall enjoy im- 
mensely greater facilities and more glorious 
opportunities for spiritual and intellectual 
advancement and amelioration; but a glorious 
transition from a state of trial and adversity, 
affliction and bereavement to a state of re- 
ward and fruition and a blessed consumma- 
tion of the noble purposes and aspirations 
around which the activities of his earthly 



186 Ube (Blories ot Ibeapen 



life have clustered, and in which his powers 
of mind and soul have been exercised; but a 
coming forth from the crucible, as gold by 
fire refined, or as a jewel polished by grinding, 
a lustrous diadem to shine in the glory of 
Heaven for the honor of the Master, and not 
by its own light either, but by reflecting the 
light of the Infinite and Eternal One. What 
work our hands will find to do, what missions 
will engage our ransomed powers, what 
aspirations and hopes, what achievements 
and successes will make up the sum of our 
business and our pleasure in that higher 
sphere of life beyond we do not now fully 
know. But we may be well assured that 
Christ, our risen Lord, and the great captain 
of our Salvation, who while on earth said, 
'' It is My meat and My drink to do the will 
of Him that sent me," will find — or rather 
has already provided — some avocation con- 
genial and commensurate to our varied 
powers and susceptibilities — some activity in 
which our re-embodied spirits shall find both 
meat and drink, and, in short, all the ele- 



tlbe IbiGber Xife Be^onD 187 



ments and circumstances requisite to con- 
tinued spiritual growth. And as Lovs is the 
fundamental law of spiritual life now, and 
all God's laws are immutable, we may surely 
infer that it will be the same in Heaven, that 
to love God with all the soul and all the mind 
and all the strength that in us lies, and to 
love our fellow man as ourselves, will be an 
important part of our work over there. And 
as love to God implies a desire to know more 
of Him, and to be more like Him, one of the 
great aspirations of our blood^bought and 
" love^bound " immortal spirits will be to sit 
at the Master^s feet and learn of Him the 
lesson of that wondrous love that brought 
Him down to earth our souls to redeem; and 
thus we shall constantly become more fully 
partakers of the Divine Nature, and con- 
stantly ^^ Grow up into Him who is our Liv- 
ing Head," and thus constantly '' From life's 
flowing Fountain drink endless pleasures in/* 




CHAPTER VII 
mtal (BoMiness— Ibow ©btaineJ) an5 IRetaineb 

lEGENERATION— a justified 
relation to God — or the resto- 
ration in the human soul of 
the Divine Image, lost by sin, 
is not an end, to be by growth 
or culture attained^ but rather a gracious gift 
from God — a glorious boon to be obtained by 
the sincere seeker, solely through the merit 
of the Great Atonement, and simply for the 
asking. The unregenerate man can not cause 
his heart of stone to grow into a heart of 
flesh: but God says, '^I will take away the 
stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give 
you a heart of flesh." By disobedience man 
has been severed from the True Vine, and by 
the Divine Hand alone can he be grafted 
again into that Yine. Neither can righteous- 
ness be acquired, superinduced, or put on by 
compliance with external ordinances and 

188 



IDital ©o&Uness ISO 

ceremonies. '' By Grace are ye saved, through 
faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift 
of God: not of works lest any man should 
boast. For we are His workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus unto good works." 

So radical is the change that must be 
wrought in the human nature to bring it into 
covenant relationship with God, that it is fre- 
quently termed in Scripture, a new birth. 
Christ declares to Nicodemus, ^^ Except a man 
be born again, he can not see the Kingdom of 
God." This means something more than 
breaking away from evil habits and associa- 
tions; something more than being sorry for 
past sin (in view of the consequences which 
necessarily follow); something more than a 
confession of sin, and a profession of an his- 
torical belief in the teachings of God's Word; 
something more than forming good resolu- 
tions for the future, becoming identified with 
the visible Church by conforming to, and com- 
plying with, its external rites and ceremonies; 
something more than living a life of strict 
morality, and even of generosity and self -sac- 



190 Zbc ©lories of Ibeaven 

rificing (for Paul declares, ''Though I bestow 
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I 
give my body to be burned, and have not; 
charity, it profiteth me nothing''); something 
more than preserving a reputation above re- 
proach, and, like the church of Sardis, having 
a name to live when thou art dead. (Rev. 3: 
1.) This neiv birth implies (1) pardon for 
past offences (Acts 26: 18), (2) a renewal of 
the moral nature (Matt. 18: 3), (3) the gift 
of the Holy Spirit and of Eternal Life (Rom. 
8: 9 and John 3: 36), and (4) the Witness of 
the Spirit bearing testimony to our own con- 
sciousness of our renewal by Grace Divine, 
and our adoption into the Kingdom of Grace 

— the Family of the Redeemed (Rom. 8: 16 
and 1 John 5: 10). 

But how shall one receive this neiv birth? 
By earnest and importunate prayer. By com- 
ing in simple trust to Christ who declares 
Himself to be the way, the truth, and the 
LIFE, and who says, '^Ask and ye shall re- 
ceive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it 
shall be opened unto you." 



IDital Go&liness I9l 

And how shall we retain this justified re- 
lation to God ? ^^ I£ we walk in the light, as 
He is in the light, we have fellowship one 
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, 
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin;'' and so 
we have in Christ both a Present and an 
Everlasting Salvation. ^^If God be for us, 
who can be against us?'' '^For I am per- 
suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God, which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord." ^''Any other crea- 
ture^^'' or any external power, or influence, 
shall be unable to harm us while we " abide 
in Him"; but let us beware of 5^// and of in- 
dwelling 5m, that we be not '^cast forth as a 
branch," and ''be withered," and thus become 
fit fuel for the fires of everlasting destruction. 




DaleStctors 

|Y DEAR READER and Fel- 
low^^traveler, through this 
changeful and evanescent 
time^world, to the land of 
Permanence and Abiding 
Realities, where rise in dazzling splendors 
the Mansions of the Blest around the Great 
White Throne of Christ, our King: — In bid- 
ding thee Adieu, the question of greatest 
moment, of most vital importance to me is 
this. Have I succeeded in writing anything 
that will inspire and encourage thee on life's 
Pilgrimage, anything that under the Divine 
Blessing shall be instrumental in leading thee 
onward and upward along the Shining Way 
of Holy Living, anything that will enable thee 
to gain firmer footing on the Rock of Eternal 
Truth, to drink more freely, more deeply, 
more constantly from the flowing fountains 
of Living Waters, to feast more fully on 

192 



IDale&tctori? 103 



Heavenly Manna, to ascend higher and yet 
higher on the mountains of the blessed Beu- 
lah Land, where thou mayest walk more in 
the glorious sunlight of God's Kedeeming 
Love? If I have thus succeeded in lending 
a hand of helpfulness to lead thee to a better 
life, then my labors have not been in vain. 

This little volume is the result of an hum- 
ble effort, on the part of one of the weakest 
and most insignificant of God's children, to 
do good. It bears on every page the impress 
of human imperfection, and yet it is sent 
forth with a sincere hope, and an earnest 
prayer, that its words may be so backed by 
the power and energy of the Holy Spirit that 
its readers shall be benefited and God's Name 
be glorified. And now, My Dear Reader, I 
must say. Fare Thee Well! and may the 
fullness of God's rich Grace, and His abound- 
ing Love, and tender Mercies ever be the 
portion of thine inheritance. 

Yours in Christian Love, 

J. RiGGs Long. 



Crown Jewell 



or 



6olden eieanings of Religiom 
Cboudbt 



Crown Jewel mo. I. 



Decide 



♦♦♦ 

Because ^ou see reason 
... for &eci8on ... 



Chen Act 



♦♦♦ 

Because ^o\x bave 
♦♦♦ 5ecf5e& I .♦♦ 



» ■ fc <»*tf^. 



* ** > • ^^^^' "^ ^ 



Xet ^our actions follow tbe gulbance 
of ^our Judgment anb tbe dictates of ^our 
Conscience, an£> if between tbem botb 
sou 00 over tbe falls of IRiagara, (5o! 
llt is tbe onl^ course wortbs of a ^an. 

— Iborace JSusbncU. 



197 



l^ Crown Jewels 



drown Jewel Vlo. 2 



Me Sball Be llmmortal 

1. Oft we tire of service here, 
Oft the flesh is weary, 

Oft we shed the burning tear, 

Oft our way is dreary. 
But the cares of life will cease 

When we cross the portal. 
We shall find a sweet release — 

We shall be immortal. 

2. Oft we grieve o'er loved ones flown, 
Oft we weep in sorrow; 

Oft we long to clasp our own 
On some bright to-morrow. 

But no shadows will annoy 
When we cross the portal, 

Sorrow will be turned to joy — 
We shall be immortal. 

3. Do we love the Savior more? 
Are we onward pressing? 

Do we sing His praises o'er? 

Do we share His blessing? 
Then the darkness will be light 

When we cross the portal, 
We shall walk with Him in white, 

We shall be immortal. 



Crown Jewels iw 



4. Are we watching, waiting here? 

Are our lamps all burning, 
For a time that's drawing near, 

For our Lord's returning? 
Some of us may stand to-night 

Just outside the portal, 
And before the morning light 

Find ourselves immortal. 



Crown 5cwel IRo 3 



mc Sball 3Be %iU Ibim 

1. "We shall be like Him"— blessed thought! 
Alas! we are not like Him now. 

Less patiently we bare the cross, 

Less meekly do we suffer loss, 

Than He who our redemption bought 

With thorny crown on dying brow. 

''We shall he like Him" — blessed thought! 

2. *' We shall be like Him" — free from sin; 
On Him temptation lost its power. 

We shall be pure without a stain. 
When we that blissful state attain; 
Aye! pure without and pure within. 
In that ecstatic longed-for hour 
** We shall be like Him " — free from sin. 

3. "We shall be like Him" — glory*crowned, 
Immortal, clad in robes of light; 

Beyond the power of aught to harm, 



200 Crown Jewels 



Beyond the sound of death's alarm, 
No more by limitations bound 
Of time and flesh and earthly sight — 
"We shall be like Him" — glory^crowned. 

4. "We shall be like Him;" yet 1 know — 
Within my soul it soundeth clear — 
We, somehow, must His image bear. 
We, some way, must His spirit share, 
Our lives must something of Him show, 
We must be like Him even here, 
If we would there His likeness know 

— Author Unknown, 



Crown icvocl *lo 4 



Ubere Us iRo Deatb 

1. There is no death! The stars go down 
To rise upon some fairer shore, 

And bright in Heaven's jeweled crown 
They shine forever more. 

2. There is no death. The dust we tread 
Shall change beneath the summer shower 
To golden grain, or mellow fruit, 

Or rainbow^inted flowers. 

3. The granite rocks disorganize 
To feed the hungry moss they bear; 
The forest leaves drink daily life 
From out the viewless air. 



Crown Jewels 201 



4. The bird4ike voice, whose joyous tones 
Made glad this scene of sin and strife, 
Sings now an everlasting song, 

Amid the Tree of Life. 

5. And where He sees a smile so bright, 
Of heart too pure for taint and vice, 
He bears it to that world of light, 

To dwell in Paradise, 

6. There is no death; the leaves may fall, 
The flowers may fade and pass away— 
They only wait through wintry hours 
The coming of the May. 

7. There is no death. But angel forms 
Walk o'er the earth with silent tread; 
They bear our best loved things away, 
And then we call them "dead." 

8. They leave our hearts all desolate — 
They pluck our fairest, sweetest flowers; 
Transplanted into bliss, they now 
Adorn immortal bowers. 

9. Born into that undying life, 
They leave us but to come again; 
We welcome them — the same 
Except in sin and pain. 

10. And ever near us, though unseen, 
The dear immortal spirits tread; 
For all the boundless Universe 

Is LIFE. There are no dead. 



202 drown Jewels 



Crown 5cwel 1Ho. 5 



Spiritual ©rowtb 

" To he spiritually minded is life a^id peace,^^ 

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll! 

Leave thy low- vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from Heaven with a dome more vast! 

Till thou at length art free. 
Leaving thine out-grown shell by life's unresting 

sea! — Holmes, 



Crown Jewel flo. 6 



Ube future Xife 

FEEL in myself the future life. 
I am like a forest which has 
been more than once cut down. 
The new shoots are stronger 
and livelier than ever. I am 
rising, I know, toward the sky. The sun- 
shine is over by head. The earth gives me 
its generous sap, but Heaven lights me with 
the reflection of unknown worlds. 




Crown Jewels 203 



You say the soul is nothing but the result- 
ant of bodily powers, why then is my soul 
the more luminous when my bodily powers 
begin to fail? Winter is on my head and 
eternal spring is in my heart. I breathe at 
this hour the fragrance of the lilies, the 
violets and the roses as at twenty years. 
The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I 
hear around me the immortal symphonies of 
the worlds which unite me. It is marvelous, 
yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and it is 
history. 

For half a century I have been writing my 
thoughts in prose, verse, history, philosophy, 
drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, song, 
— I have tried all. But I feel that I have 
not said the thousandth part of what is in me. 
When I go down to the grave I can say, like 
so many others, '' I have finished my day's 
work;" but I cannot say, ^^I have finished 
my life." My day's work will begin again 
the next morning. The tomb is not a blind 
alley, it is a thoroughfare. It closes in the 
twilight to open with the dawn. 



204 Crown Jewels 



I improve every hour because I love this 
world as my fatherland. My work is only a 
beginning. My work is hardly above its 
foundation. I would be glad to see it mount- 
ing and mounting forever. The thirst for 
the infinite proves infinity. 



Crown Jewel Ifto. 7 



Divine peace 

1. Peace upon peace, like wave on wave, 
This is the portion that I crave; 

The peace of God which passeth thought; 
The peace of Christ that changeth not. 

2. Peace like the river's gentle flow, 
Peace like the morning's silent glow, 
From day to day in love supplied, 
An endless and unebbing tide. 

3. Peace flowing on, without decrease. 
From Him who is our joy and peace, 
Who, by His reconciling blood 

Hath made the sinner's peace with God 

4. Peace through the night and through the day, 
Peace through all windings of our way. 

In pain and toil and weariness, 
A deep and everlasting peace. 



Crown 5ewel0 205 



5. O, King of Peace, this peace bestow 
Upon a stranger here below; 

O, God of Peace, Thy peace impart 
To every troubled, trembling heart. 

6. Peace from the Father and the Son, 
Peace from the Spirit all his own; 
Peace that shall nevermore be lost, 

Of Father Son and Holy Ghost. 

— Horatius Bonar, 



Crown Jewel IFlo^ 8 

®ur Ibomelant) 

1. *'Just beyond life's purpling twilight, 
And its sunset gates of gold, 

Lies a land of wondrous beauty, 
Full of joy and peace untold. 

2. Just beyond life's moaning surges, 
And its billows' ceaseless roll. 
Hidden from earth-dimmed vision, 
Lies the homeland of the soul. 

3. And though hidden by the shadows. 
Glorious sunshine sometimes falls, 
Radiant gleams of Heaven's splendor, 
From its jeweled jasper walls. 

4. Just beyond our weary watching, 
Just beyond our doubts and fears, 
Just beyond our hopes and longings. 
Just beyond our pain and tears, 



206 



Crown Jewels 



5. Just beyond the curtain lifting, 
We shall see the glittering towers 
Of that distant longed-for haven, 
In God's summerland of flowers." 



Crown 5cwel IRo, 9 



IPartafters of tbe H)t\?ine Mature 

** Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises 
that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature,''^ 

AETAKERS of the Divine 
Nature" — that is enough 
for a text. I do not know 
how much we can make out 
of it, but God grant that it 
may make something out of us. It is waste 
of time now to take the text and spin it out 
into fine threads. You are certain to spoil a 
cocoon in the process of working it over into 
skein^silk. ''Partakers of the Divine Na- 
ture! " Never mind what the Greek of it is. 
That is the English of it, and the English=^ 
speaking people will have to be saved by the 




Crown Jewels 207 



English-speaking Gospel. Never mind what 
Alford, Lightfoot, or the schoolmen think or 
have written about it. There is something 
great here, and we want to leave it great. 
Some things have to be minced in order to 
reduce to use. Corn must be ground before 
it can become meal and make bread. But 
the mountains must be let alone. A wide, 
thrilling landscape wants no comment but a 
warm eye, no picture frame but the sky. 
Language has a pretty hard stint when it 
tries to tell us the great things of the Gospel. 
Words, though written by a pen dipped in 
fire and manipulated by a Spirit^anointed 
evangelist, can not show us wide matters 
when we are looking with narrow eyes. He 
that hath ears to hear let him hear. He that 
hath eyes to see let him see. Words do not 
show us things, they tell us where to look for 
them. This Gospel even does not give us the 
Heavens, but it is a God^wrought telescope 
at the eye=^piece of which we can kneel down 
and look up into the Heavens. Christianity 
is to me what I see in the Heavens when look- 



208 Crown Jewels 



ing through this telescope. When I am 
blind I will take some one's else description 
of the Celestial Field and the Constellations 
that blossom along its furrows; but till then 
give me God's telescope and God's stars, 
and away with your pictures, your charts, 
and your diagams. 

''Partakers of the Divine Nature!" — Our 
look, then, this morning, is at something 
that needs a long sweep of the eye. Habits 
of microscopic inspection will be fatal to all 
attempts at a range so remote and cloud=^ 
piercing. Men who spend nine-tenths of their 
time polishing needles and counting the lenses 
in a fly's eye will not accomplish much the 
other tenth trying to interpret the hand- 
writing of God on the sky. Small looking 
makes small seeing, and myopia when so 
induced wipes out the superlative splendors 
both of a man's astronomical and his spiritual 
firmament. 

Our verse will at least give aim to our 
vision, and, although it may lie away out 
like a patch of star-mist in the untraveled 



Crown Jewels 200 



spaces, yet perhaps it will grow upon our eye 
and take a little more shape before our eye; 
although even unresolved and indeed unre- 
solvable star-mist floating in the cosmic 
distance is a million times fuller of thrill 
than the same mist condensed into drops and 
represented by ink-spatters in white on your 
study=table. 

'^ Partakers of the Divine Nature," which 
is to say taking part in the Divine Nature. 
Not simply like God, but in a way share- 
holders in Him, — something, possibly, as the 
waves of the sea are the partakers in the sea; 
something it may be as the leaves of a tree 
share in the life of the tree. Not that we 
attach great value to such parables save as 
they give the thought an upward incline. 
We are not afraid of widening out the area 
of our humanity along the line of its upward 
frontier. It is childish for one who happens 
to know a little more than his neighbor to 
boast of his superiority to his neighbor; but 
it is another thing for a man to be intelli- 
gently and gratifiedly conscious of that in him- 



210 Crown Jewels 



self which he has in common with his neigh- 
bor and in common with all his neighbors. 
It is the dijfference between self-conceit and 
self-respect. The little differences between 
us make us conceited; the wide and profound 
fundamentals of our common nature are the 
grounds of our self-respecting. 

Man differs in one very peculiar regard, 
from the brute; not only in moving in a 
higher range of life and experience, but in 
not being tethered to any fixed condition. 
The brute is a brute, and always a brute. 
Improve your dog, and he will still be brutal. 
Debase your dog, and he will still be brutal 
and evince no symptoms of dropping to a 
lower grade of being. However miserable 
he may be as a dog, he will still be a perfect 
dog, and give no indication of degenerating 
to the inferior nature of a vegetable or a 
mineral. The dog is tied to his conditions; 
he can neither apostatize from caninity, nor 
be trained nor re-created into humanity. He 
stays where he is put. Once a dog always a 
dog! 



Crown 5ewel5 211 



On the contrary there is a just sense in 
which you can say of humanity that it is not 
so much a condition as it is a position of 
poise between two alternative conditions. 
It is like standing at the half =^ way point on 
the Gemmi Pass in Switzerland. You look 
down to the profound depths beneath you, or 
you turn and look up to the superb heights 
above you, but you are not going to stop 
there nor to live there. There is no house at 
the spot. It is not a place to remain, but a 
place from which to look off. You are either 
on your way down the pass to Leuker-Bad, 
or you are on your way up the pass to the 
Wild'strubel; it is merely a position of poise 
between two alternative destinations. 

A good deal of the same thing we can say 
about our humanity, and by our humanity I 
mean the general complex of powers and 
possibilities that we bring with us into our 
life here. We have not so much a sense of 
fixity as we have presentment of destiny. 
We are a looking^off place. There are no 
conveniences for remaining where we are. 



212 Crown Jewels 



The longer we wait the more distinctly we 
feel that we must go. Conflicting impulses 
may draw us both ways, but that can not 
continue indefinitely. We shall have to 
choose between the two, and follow our 
choice. Every man knows how near he is to 
being a brute, and every man knows how 
near he is to the alternative destiny. A 
frontier line touches both countries. Hu- 
manity is a kind of watershed, off from 
which the rivers all flow, and flow to opposite 
points of the compass. We look down as far 
as we can, and call the indistinguishable 
bottom Hell; we look up as high as we 
can, and call the indistinguishable summit 
Heaven. Hell is humanity slipped down the 
pass till it has become bestial. Heaven is 
humanity climbed up the pass till it attains 
to the Divine. That is the geography of the 
three worlds. All written religions have 
portrayed it, because every human heart has 
felt itself in transitu^ and has had a sense 
of alternative destinies. I address myself in 
this not to your interpretation of Scripture, 



Crown Jewels 213 



but to your interpretation of your own minds. 
Scripture is written on a ruled page, and the 
lines to which even the inspired pen conforms 
itself are such as are first laid down in the 
general consciousness of the race. 

Ye are partakers of the Divine Nature. 
Our thought to-day is particularly up the 
pass, not down. There is more danger in a 
theology that differences man from God than 
in one which assimilates man to God. There 
is, as a rule, more quickening stimulus in the 
prospect of victory than there is in the danger 
of defeat. Few men ever become great 
through fear of remaining small. There is 
more incentive in trying to get to the top of 
the class than in trying to keep away from 
the bottom of it. 

The Hebrew economy, as recorded for us 
in the Old Testament Scriptures, plays indeed 
an important part in the history of the 
Christian idea. But in those old times it 
was the ineffable holiness and the inaccessible 
greatness of God that was steadily advertised. 
Men were not encouraged to draw nigh unto 



214 Crown Jewels 



God. All arrangements of the Hebrew system 
discouraged everything of the kind. All the 
dramatic accompaniments of Divine mani- 
festation (as the giving of the law) were sug- 
gestive of nothing so much as of the un- 
conquerable distance that separated between 
Grod and His people. The provisional 
purpose in all this it would not be diffi- 
cult to state; but the fact that just now con- 
cerns us is that so long as this relation of 
things lasted, men never began to become 
Godlike. There is no incentive to the effort 
to draw nigh to One of whom the only thought 
we have is that He is absolutely unapproach- 
able; or to become like One of whom the 
chief thing we have been told is that He is 
absolutely inimitable. 

In this respect, as in some others, the New 
Testament marks a distinct advance in the 
history of religious unfolding. Having been 
taught for thousands of years that God is un- 
speakably holy and ineffably high and lifted 
up, Christ comes and says, ''But then that 
need not hinder your coming close to Him, 



Crown 5ewel0 215 



and holding fellowship with Him." There 
is a great deal in having a prospect; and 
when Christ came and gave men a prospect, 
and taught them that there was no absurdity 
and no profanity in their seeking after God 
withal He was so holy, and walking with 
Him withal He was a Heaven-enthroned 
God, they became great enough for the act, 
and in the act they were made like Him. 

We must not abate (I am afraid we do, to 
a certain extent, but we ought not abate) the 
old Hebrew habit of celebrating the glory 
and majesty of God. We enfeeble our 
religious life and pauperize our devout 
loyalties when we embrace with our reverent 
regards only those Divine properties that 
scatter through the fine-meshed sieve of our 
affections. Tone and strength are by these 
means sacrificed. It is the " majestic sweet- 
ness," it is the regal loveliness of our God to 
which we are invited, to whose contacts we 
have admission guaranteed us, the very effect 
of which contacts it is to have the communi- 
cation of His own Divineness made over to 



2X0 Crown JewelB 



us, the reproduction of His own eternal 
Spirit consummated within us. 

This matter of knowing God and of being 
in fellowship with Him is wide and wonder- 
ful. There are rich and startling depths of 
meaning contained in it; and the meaning we 
must not be afraid of nor shrink to stand by. 
We will look a moment in this direction and 
let come what will. Our philosophers object 
to what is, in rather a schoolish way, called 
^^anthropomorphism;" that is, the habit of 
representing God as possessed of modes and 
features of being that belong to man. Now 
we do that, and so long as we continue to do 
that we must be prepared for the conse- 
quences; we must be prepared to confess that 
the human and the Divine have that in com- 
mon which makes common terms admissible; 
that there is a point where the two easily 
touch so that there is no telling where one 
leaves off and the other begins; a point — a 
good many of them perhaps — so belonging to 
both that whether you call them human or 
Divine will depend on preference and taste. 



Crown Jewels 217 

This is no place to dwell on the metaphysics 
of the matter. We are only trying to bring 
our own thoughts into beat with the rhythm 
of thought as it evinces itself all the way 
through the Gospel. It comes out in the con- 
ception which the Gospel gives us of Jesus 
Christ. You can call Him human; you can 
call Him Divine; most of us call Him both; 
and when we call Him both, and name Him 
a Divine man, our idea is not that a part of 
Him is one, and a part the other, and the two 
parts bound by some nondescript Siamese 
ligament, but that humanity at its best, and 
Divinity under limitation, are in such way 
identical that they can justly bear either 
name. 

We are not trying to explain incarnation 
we are only trying to see what it is that we 
who believe in incarnation really assent to 
in believing it. We assent to it that Divinity 
and humanity are to such degree identical 
that the Founder of our religion could be both 
inside of one homogeneous personality; some- 
thing as you can draw two circumferences in 



218 Crown Jewels 



such a way as to have them intersect each 
other, and a part of the contained area, 
therefore, belong at the same time to both 
circles. We are not attempting to gain so 
clear-cut a conviction of this matter that v^e 
can make a memorandum of it in our diary. 
We are simply trying to look in the right 
direction — in the direction indicated by our 
verse — and to let what hangs in the air 
imprint itself on our eyes in its own way. 

Now that God has become man (an idea 
familiar to the religions of the world else- 
where as well as in Christendom), now that 
the Divine has once become human without 
ceasing to be Divine, all necessary distinction 
between the two declares itself rubbed out. 
Now see what follows. If God can humanize 
the Divine to the point of its becoming man, 
as in the instance of Jesus, what is to hinder 
Him, in the exercise of the same omnipotence, 
from deifying man to the point of his becom- 
ing Divine ? It is no farther from the bottom 
of the mountain to the top than it is from top 
to bottom. Now that, my friends, as we 



Crown Jewels 219 



read the Gospel, is exactly what the blessed 
Spirit is trying to do with us. God became 
like us, that we might become like God. He 
is seeking to lead us back over the same road 
that He came down. Sanctification the re- 
verse of incarnation ! Never mind definitions ; 
we are looking in the right direction. '' Par- 
takers OF THE Divine Nature.'' 

^'Now are we the sons of God." It is all in 
that word '^sons." There is community 
through identity. You can not get sonship 
in any other way. You may spend a score 
of years fashioning marble into expressions 
of your own ideals of beauty and grace, but 
those statues it would scarcely occur to you 
to call your sons and your daughters. Son- 
ship and fellowship come only from being 
shareholders in one common life. Christ was 
not the creature of God, but the Son of God, 
only because He and His Father were one. 
The dog on the hearth-rug! The boy on his 
father's lap! One and the same life looks 
from the father's eye into the son's eye, and 
from the son's eye into the father's eye. 



220 Crown Jewels 



Mystery? There is mystery everywhere. 
We are only looking at the star-mist out in 
the wide spaces. 

Of course we have made bungling work in 
telling this. Even great Paul did, and 
strained his sentences almost to the point of 
breaking, as when he said, '^ I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me.'' There is more 
between the lines of the Bible than there is 
in the lines. We spend a good deal of time 
trying to understand what the Bible does say; 
we might profitably spend a little time every 
day in trying to understand what the Bible 
does not say. It is generally the case that 
things are discovered by attempting to see a 
little more than is visible, going out to the 
end of the longest and highest promontory 
and looking off. 

In such expressions as that just quoted 
from Paul, wherein he says, ^' I live, yet not 
I, but Christ liveth in me," it needs no great 
discernment to see that he does not intend 
only to say that his life and experience are 
being managed by the control of Divine in- 
fluence, as a vessel is driven by the wind or 



Crown 5ewel0 221 



thrust forward by the tide. To the degree 
in which we read down into the substance of 
the matter, we feel that there was that blend- 
ing between himself and the Divine Spirit 
that it was all one whether he said or acted, 
or said that God acted in him. For a little 
distance frontier lines were erased. The 
same territory belonged to both circles- I do 
not make my meaning clear: my meaning is 
not clear to myself. But there is something 
great here, and we would rather see a moun- 
tain slope afar off than to own and fence a 
little patch of that slope and be able to 
plant a few hills of corn upon it. A loyal son 
is governed by his father; but it is the best 
element of that loyalty not that the son does 
what the father bids him do, or makes him 
do, but that the son has his father's spirit so 
reproduced in himself and so become a part 
of himself, and he so a partaker in his father's 
nature, that his one act is at the same instant 
both his act and his father's act. And when 
we pray that God will control us by His 
Spirit we certainly hardly expect that He is 
going to put His personality behind us, so as 



222 Crown Jewels 



to push us onward; or put His personality in 
front of us, so as to hold us backward. We 
would rather mean, would we not, that* as 
children of His we are bound in the bundle 
of one life with Him, moving therefore at the 
impulse of energies that are ours without 
their ceasing to be His — somewhat perhaps 
as each separate storm-wave rolls in the ex- 
pression of its own might, which is at the 
same time a part of the might of the sea; 
somewhat perhaps as each separate leaf or 
branch grows green in the expression of its 
own life, which is at the same time part of 
the life of the vine. This last is the Lord's 
illustration, not ours. '' Abide in Me, and I in 
you. As the branch can not bear fruit of 
itself except it abide in the vine, no more can 
ye except ye abide in Me." I in you, you in 
Me. Frontier lines gone. One in each other. 
A single bundle of life, human or Divine, 
either or both; a shareholder in God; up the 
Gemmi Pass toward the indistinguishable 
summit! [Toward the Illimitable Heights 
of Spiritual Greatness and Moral Grandeur! 
Unceasingly Onward! and Upward!] 



NOV -" '"39 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

T 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



gr^H 



